


Tale As Old As Time

by thebluemartini



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Beauty and The Beast-inspired, Beauty and the Beast, Drama, F/M, Jyn and Cassian Survive Scarif!, Non-Graphic Violence, Rebelcaptain - Freeform, Romance, ohhh the drama!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 00:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11024520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebluemartini/pseuds/thebluemartini
Summary: Jyn and Cassian survived the Battle of Scarif, but have ended up in the custody of an Imperial officer who has ties to Cassian’s past and is determined to have her revenge. Cassian must learn to get past his inner demons. Jyn must learn to trust him. And together, they must make a grand escape.This is a Beauty and the Beast-inspired telling of rebelcaptain!





	1. Prologue: The Curse

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a Beauty and the Beast-inspired story of Jyn and Cassian. The events of Rogue One still occurred, except Jyn and Cassian managed to survive. 
> 
> A few months ago, after reading many Jyn/Cassian fics, I was all like "I want to write my own Jyn/Cassian fic!" but I had no idea what to write. Usually, I'm a oneshot kind of person and not a multi-chapter person but I didn't really have any good ideas for a oneshot. Then I had read someone's Pride and Prejudice-ified oneshot about Jyn/Cassian and so I was like "Hmm maybe there's another classic story I can parallel?" So Beauty and the Beast came to mind!
> 
> This fic will have parallels to the events of Disney's 1991 version of Beauty and the Beast...and maybe some similar quotes :) (FYI There are no musical numbers or talking inanimate objects in this though. This is definitely a romantic drama with angst and such.) Also, I know that Beauty and the Beast can be considered Stockholm Syndrome, and I just want to assure you that is not the case in this fic, as Cassian and Jyn are both captives. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Slowly, Cassian opens his eyes and blinks, giving them a moment to adjust to the light. His head and back ache, and it’s a struggle to even find the strength to lift his head up.

Looking down, he finds himself on a bed, propped up against some pillows. His hands are shackled and attached to the railing on the edge of the bed. Glancing around, he sees a bacta tank in the corner of the room and realizes he must be in a medical center.

Leaning his head back further into the pillow and closing his eyes, he tries to remember what happened.

_Where am I? How did I get here?_

Memories flash through his mind: The Battle of Scarif, where he was knocked down from the data vault. Climbing up the vault and shooting Krennic. Jyn transmitting the Death Star plans. Taking the elevator back down to the beach. Jyn pulling him forward up the ramp of a random ship. Scarif disintegrating beneath them as the ship took off.

The last thing he remembers is him and Jyn being surrounded by Imperial officers on the ship. One of them delivered a big blow to his head, and he blacked out.

_Jyn...where is Jyn?_

He abruptly opens his eyes and takes another glance around the room, searching for any sign of the young dark-haired woman with green eyes, but there is none. There are other beds, but all of them are clean and empty.

Suddenly, he hears a clicking sound and jerks his head up to see the automatic doors to the room open. A female Imperial officer walks in, carrying a bundle of clothes.

As she approaches his bed, Cassian gets a better look at her and realizes that he knows her face. His body freezes at the sight.

_Avena Ludu._

_This can’t be good._

He hasn’t seen her in years, not since…

“So, Andor, it seems we meet again,” she says with an unsettling smile. “It’s about time you woke up.”

She drops the bundle of clothes near his feet on the bed and then proceeds to remove his binders. Cassian eyes her carefully, trying to figure out what tricks she has up her sleeve. He expected to feel her wrath if he ever saw her again, but she currently seems eerily calm.

“Put these clothes on and meet me in the corridor,” she orders him as she nods her head toward the clothes.  

Cassian looks disdainfully over at the clothes she brought him: a gray Imperial uniform.

“Why would I wear that?” he asks gruffly.

“Because once you do that, I’ll take you to see your _dear_ Jyn.”

Cassian stills at her words and remains silent. Avena’s smile grows wider as she turns around and leaves the room to wait for him in the corridor.

As soon as she passes through the doorway, Cassian quickly gets out of the bed and changes his clothing, wincing as he does so. He doesn’t know if he could trust Avena, but she said Jyn’s name and that’s all that matters. He won’t take any chances when it comes to Jyn. He _has_ to see her and make sure she is all right.  

He just hopes his reaction to Avena’s mention of her name didn’t doom Jyn to a horrific fate.

* * *

 

Walking alongside Avena, Cassian passes by cell after cell. He discovers they’re at an Imperial labor camp, but on what planet, he isn’t yet sure.

Avena doesn’t say a word as they walk. Instead, they walk to the sounds of their footsteps and the snores of prisoners. Evidently, it is late in the evening and nearly everyone is asleep.

Cassian naturally wants to bombard Avena with questions - where are they, what happened to him and Jyn after Scarif, how long has it been since that day - but he holds back. He needs to wait until he sees Jyn before doing anything. He can’t risk losing his chance to see her.

One thing he remembers about Avena Ludu was her quick temper and her immediate willingness to lash out when she wasn’t pleased with something. He would have to tread carefully around her.

So for now, silence would have to do.

After what feels like an eternity, they stop in front of a cell. Peering inside through the bars, he can see in the shadows the outline of a young woman sitting on a bed. Avena places her hand against the screen on the cell door, activating it open with her handprint. With a tilt of her head, she indicates for Cassian to go ahead in the cell.

At the sound of the of the cell door opening, Jyn gets off the bed and stands up. Upon seeing her, Cassian can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He only sees some minor bruises and cuts on her face, but Jyn is safe and in one piece.

He strides forward and reaches out to pull her into a tight embrace. He has to feel her to know this is all real. To know that she is really there. And he needs to hear the sound of her voice. “Jyn...Jyn, are you alright?” he whispers in her ear.

But Jyn doesn’t return his embrace. Instead, she pushes him away and backs away from him out of his reach. His instincts tell him to reach out for her once more, but he stops himself when he sees that her eyes have widened and are full of fear.

The sight of Jyn being afraid of him is so foreign that even he becomes afraid.

Something is not right.

Jyn’s staring at him, watching for any sudden movements. She then looks straight into his eyes. “Who are you?” she asks.

And suddenly, Cassian feels as if his heart stops and he is frozen in place.

* * *

 

“What have you done to her?” he asks harshly, his voice filled with rage. He can’t help but slam his palms against the table. With his eyes ablaze, he is ready to punish Avena for whatever she did to Jyn.   

Yet Avena has the audacity to smirk at him in return.

“It was not our intention, I assure you,” she replies coolly as she sits at the table. “It appears the blow to her head from the Imperial officer right after the departure from Scarif was too much for her, and now she has a case of amnesia.”

_Amnesia._

The word echoes through Cassian’s mind.

When he saw her in the cell moments ago, he searched for something in her eyes that indicated this was all just a game...some kind of ploy to fool the Imperials, part of some plan she already came up with to escape. But all he could seem to find was legitimate fear and confusion.

She didn’t recognize him.

At all.

“Does she remember anything?” he questions Avena sternly.

“Can’t tell. She doesn’t talk much,” Avena says nonchalantly while staring down at the datapad in her hands.

He would need to find another way to speak to Jyn once more, find out what she knows, see if he can somehow trigger her memories to return…

But he has to keep it together. He _must._ He needs to treat this as yet another mission and _focus_ . His first priority should be to find out where they are _exactly_ and get both of them out of here. It’s a shock that both of them are even alive.

“What do you want with us?”

“Well, let me bring you up to speed: It’s been about two weeks since Scarif’s destruction, and you’ve been utterly worthless considering you’ve been in a bacta tank for most of that time. Meanwhile, your rebel base on Yavin 4 was discovered. Now the rebels are likely setting up a new base elsewhere. I doubt you have any information on where that would be. So in that regard, you are useless, Andor.”

“Then why even bother healing me? Why haven’t you killed me yet?”

She looks up from her datapad and her anger radiates off of her.

“Because I intend to break you. Again and again,” she says quietly. “You murdered my brother. Simply killing you would give me no satisfaction.”

Cassian’s eyes darken.

“Ry was your best friend Cassian, and yet you still killed him,” she reminds him even though he needs no reminding. He remembers that day vividly.

“You and Ry chose the wrong side,” he replies.

“We chose the _winning_ side, while you became the Rebel Alliance’s lackey, following all of their ridiculous orders, including killing someone you used to consider a friend. They turned you into a cold-hearted murderer - a monster! So I’m going to let you continue being a monster, but even you will hate yourself. I will make you into a willing servant of the Empire, an Imperial officer. And you will follow _all_ of my cruel orders.”

“And why would I do that?” he asks, but immediately dreads her response.

“Because if you don’t, Jyn will be punished severely.”

She can see the very brief moment of terror that clouds his eyes, and she gives him a wicked smile.

He doesn’t know how to respond. Nothing has prepared him for this. In fact, all of his training to be an intelligence officer advised against any sort of attachments so something like this _wouldn’t_ happen.

“You slipped up, Andor. You frequently called out her name during your very brief moments of consciousness as you slept, which allowed me to deduce that was the name of your rebel friend...the girl you were embracing when you boarded our ship on Scarif. And given your immediate willingness to see her today, I take it she means a great deal to you. So to _repay_ you for taking my brother away, I am going to take her away from you by showing her what a monster you truly are. I am cursing you to a life as the one thing you hate the most, all while losing Jyn’s trust and respect.”

“Well, considering she doesn’t remember me, it seems she currently has none for me,” he says bitterly.

“And I’m going to ensure it stays that way.”

_I’m so sorry, Jyn_ was all Cassian could think.

* * *

 

No one will be coming to save them. The rebels probably think he and Jyn perished with Scarif.

And even if they didn’t, if Avena was speaking truthfully, the rebels have bigger problems to deal with, such as finding a new base. And destroying the Death Star, if they haven’t managed to do so already.

It’s up to him to get him and Jyn off this planet.

If he were the man he used to be, this would all be much simpler. If he were the same man who was able to take a mission where he was required to kill his former best friend, he’d be able to selfishly walk away from all this, not caring who would get hurt because of his actions. Jyn’s amnesia even makes the situation simpler. She wouldn’t even know she was being betrayed and left behind.

But he’s no longer the man he was before. He hasn’t been the same man ever since he met... _her._

When his finger hoovered over the trigger to shoot and kill Galen Erso, he saw her eyes as he looked at his. And that was when he knew something had changed within him.

But now, for her - for her safety, her well-being, and the hope that he can save her from this constant threat of torture - he must further embrace the monster he’s always been.

Whatever opinion she has of him because of what he’ll be forced to do does not matter. He always figured he was never meant to be loved in this life anyway.

_For who could ever learn to love a monster?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is probably ridiculous but I'm having a ridiculous amount of fun writing it. :)
> 
> I was actually really terrified to post this. Writing for the Star Wars universe is so daunting because it's so darn vast! I loveee Star Wars but it's so hard to know everything about it! Please forgive me if I get something wrong about the universe or use the incorrect terminology. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts if you feel so inclined! This fic is currently half-written so the plan is to do an update once a week...so hopefully I can stick that schedule.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :)


	2. Join Me For Dinner?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for all the comments, kudos, bookmarks, and subscriptions! You're all so sweet and have made my heart very happy! I hope you enjoy this next installment.

She can’t help but slam the floor tile onto the ground.

She knows her name is Jyn Erso and can even recall the aliases she has used in her life: Liana Hallik. Tanith Pontha. Kestrel Dawn.

She knows her parents’ names were Galen and Lyra Erso.

She knows that Saw Guerrera took care of her until she was sixteen after her father was taken away from Imperials and her mother was killed by them.

She knows _all of this…_

And yet she can’t remember _everything_ and it makes her want to throw _something._

The last thing she remembers before coming to whatever planet this is was working in the Imperial labor camp on Wobani. The work was different from what she’s doing now. On Wobani, they had them mostly do farming. Here, they’re making them build some kind of new facility.

From that part of her life on Wobani up until the last few days, it’s all just... _blank._

_What could have possibly happened?_

All she was told when she woke up in the camp’s medical center was that she suffered severe head trauma and was a prisoner of the camp for being part of the Rebel Alliance.

_When did I join the alliance? Was I mistaken for a rebel? Did I end up helping the rebels in some way? Why would I be involved?_

_How much do I not remember?_

As she worked the past few days, she went through her life in her mind over and over again, reliving the pain of abandonment she’d endured. But when she gets to the part where she was in the Wobani labor camp, it’s like there’s a wall. A mental block that she can’t break through.

And then there was the dark-haired, scruffy Imperial officer who came to her cell yesterday. He looked at her, embraced her, and said her name softly in a way that made it seem like he cared about her…

_But why would an Imperial officer care about me?_

What could have possibly occurred in the part of her life that she doesn’t remember?

As she walks over to the area where piles of tiles are stacked, she collects some more to bring back to the hallway she’d been assigned to. But as she turns around, she bumps into a tall, dark-haired man, causing her to stumble back. The tiles nearly fall out of her hands, but she manages to hang on to them.

“Let me help you with that,” he says as he moves to take some tiles from her hands, but Jyn is quick to turn her body to the side and hold the tiles out of his reach.

“That won’t be necessary,” Jyn says before attempting to walk away back to the hallway. However, the man apparently isn’t finished talking with her yet, and he steps in her path, causing her to nearly crash into him again.

_Who the hell is this?_

He isn’t wearing a uniform, so she can only assume he is also a prisoner.

He smiles smugly. “A strong, self-sufficient woman. I like that,” he remarks with a wink.

Jyn rolls her eyes and is about to try to step around him, but he’s determined to block her. “What’s a pretty thing like you doing in a labor camp?” he asks her.

She resists the urge to roll her eyes again.

“I don’t know,” she replies sternly and honestly.

“A woman of mystery. I’m intrigued.” His eyes shine with amusement as he tilts his head and stares at her. “The name’s Aston Metri. And you are…?”

“Getting back to work,” Jyn finishes as she stomps past him without looking back.

“Well it was a pleasure to meet you, _mystery woman,”_ he calls after her, causing her to groan in irritation.

She turns down the hallway she’s working on and plops down her new pile of tiles, thanking the Force that _Aston Metri_ wasn’t a part of her life that she doesn’t remember.

She returns to her task in silence, placing down tile after tile as she once again goes through the events of her life in her mind, hoping to somehow piece together how she wound up here.

She’s distracted from her thoughts when she hears a slight noise - something that sounds like someone’s breathing coming from around the corner that leads to a dark corridor. She sighs, hoping Aston Metri hasn’t decided to come annoy her again. It couldn’t be the stormtrooper assigned to keep watch over this area - he had just passed through a moment ago.

Maybe it’s nothing, she tells herself. She’s just on edge over her memory loss.

But then she hears it again, and she can _feel_ that someone is watching her.

“Come into the light,” she orders as drops a tile and looks toward the unlit corridor.

At first, nothing happens, and she thinks that she may be going insane.

But then she hears hesitant footsteps approach her.

The figure steps into the dimly-lit area, and she recognizes him as the Imperial officer who embraced her yesterday.

All she can think of when she sees his uniform are the memories of her father being taken away from her. She automatically takes a step back and takes a deep breath. His eyes are staring back at hers and look like they are searching for something.

“Jyn,” he says hesitantly. He reaches his hand out toward her shoulder, but thinks better of it and brings it back down to his side.

“Leave me alone,” she tells him quietly.  

“I won’t hurt you,” he says quickly in a hushed whisper. “Jyn...I’m Cassian, Cassian Andor. Your...friend.”

How could she possibly have been friends with an Imperial officer?

“I’m sure that’s just one of the many lies you’ve told as a servant to the Empire.”

Cassian sighs. “It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t care.”

“We’re scheduled to have dinner in the cafeteria at the same time. We can eat together this evening, and I can...I can prove to you that we were... _are_...friends.”

She doesn’t have time to be listening to this. She needs to focus on getting out of this place.

But then he stands there, watching her with a trace of sadness touching his features.

She wants to scream at him, tell him to go away, and yet, she can’t find the voice to say anything. His brown-eyed stare is so intense, she’s paralyzed…

There’s a sound of clunky footsteps coming up from behind her, meaning it must be the stormtrooper making his way back to her area. The sound jerks both of them out of their trance. Jyn returns to her task of laying down floor tiles as Cassian immediately turns away and heads back into the shadows.

* * *

That evening, when he heads into the cafeteria and grabs his tray of food, he searches for her. He just _needs_ to talk to her and to explain everything...in the hope that she’ll be able to _understand._

And if it happens to trigger the memories to come back, then he would consider himself the luckiest man in the galaxy.

He wants her to know that she isn’t alone in this. He’s not going to abandon her like other people have in her life. But maybe she doesn’t remember anyone in her life and has no feelings of abandonment or loneliness?

Part of him just needs to talk to her for his own selfish wants. He doesn’t want to feel alone in this either. For his own sanity, he can’t take her looking at him like a stranger. Her blank looks of confusion are too much to bear, especially when he remembers the way she looked at him in the elevator back down to the beach on Scarif.

Her eyes held a shred of hope for something _more._

But if he could at least have her view him as an ally, it would be enough. He’d be unworthy of anything more than that.

If only she’d be willing to listen.

Finally, he spots her sitting down alone at a small table, taking bites of her food without ever looking up. Taking a deep breath, he walks over to her and stands across the table from her.

The motion causes her to finally look up.

And this time, she’s scowling at him.

_A slight improvement over a blank stare, I suppose._

At least she recognizes him...as the man she’s encountered yesterday and today.

“May I sit here?” he asks softly.

“I prefer to eat alone,” she says before looking down and taking another bite of food.

Perhaps, he’s been too eager for this. Maybe he just needs to give her some space...he doesn’t want to frustrate her and push her over the edge.

Reluctantly, he gives a quick nod before turning to the table next to hers and plopping down into a seat.  

He should have spent the day trying to figure out a better way to convince her to talk to him. Instead, he dwelled too much on Avena’s first assignment for him: to go with the Imperial crew to exterminate a local village of rebel sympathizers. Apparently, they’re still in the process of taking over the entire planet to establish some sort of new facility. Avena chose not to fill him in on the details. Instead, she informed him that even though she’d make him appear as Imperial officer, he’d in reality would be another prisoner...just with special duties, such as murder.

He’d be forced to kill innocent lives tomorrow.

_How is this any different from what you did before?_ his conscience wonders.

He’s fought for the Alliance since he was six...and has killed too many to count. Each death, he had told himself, was necessary for the cause. He trained himself to suppress any feelings of remorse or guilt. It wasn’t until he was sent to kill Galen Erso that those emotions started to bubble up again…

The thought of killing _for_ the enemy causes him to lose his appetite and he pushes his tray of food away from him.  

He nearly loses himself in thinking about how tomorrow will go, but when he overhears the conversation of the prisoners sitting a few seats away from him, he’s brought back to reality.

“About ten months ago, I used to work for the team of scientists developing a super weapon for the Empire, and - ” an older man with gray hair recalls.

“The Death Star?” the younger man sitting next to him interrupts.

The older man nods. “I guess it’s been completed and being used then if the public knows about it?”

The other one nods. “It obliterated Alderaan.”

Cassian’s body shudders upon hearing this statement.

_Did the rebels not receive the plans? Was the Scarif mission all for nothing?_

_Was their current state of suffering all for nothing?_

Cassian quickly gets out of his seat and takes the chair beside the young man.

“What else have they destroyed with the Death Star?” he asks, startling the man.

The man eyes him warily, staring at his Imperial uniform. “You don’t know?”

Cassian shakes his head. “Tell me.”

“Nothing after Alderaan. Yesterday, before I was brought here, I’d heard rumors that the rebels destroyed the Death Star.”

_Destroyed._

_Scarif wasn’t for nothing. This isn’t all for nothing._

He can’t help but let a sigh of relief escape his lips. The two men look at him confusedly. Cassian choses to ignore it, as an idea ignites in his mind.

“Did you know Galen Erso?” Cassian asks the older one a bit more loudly than his usual speaking volume. He isn’t concerned with the reply though. He’s more interested to find out if _she’s_ listening.. If she refuses to speak with him, he has to use other methods to gauge what she knows. Does she recognize her own father’s name?

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her perk her head up and look right at him.

_She knows._

And now she’s also aware that he knows at least one piece of her history.

“I worked under him briefly before I got in some trouble with the Empire and ended up here,” the man replies.

Cassian nods. “Thank you,” he tells both of them - who look completely perplexed - before leaving the table.

* * *

_On Lah’mu, she wanders through the the fields, weaving past the moisture vaporators. Peering behind the boulders she passes, she searches for her father in their game of hide and seek._

_Eventually, she winds up at a cave that her parents had been taking her to fairly often. She goes to the back of the cave and attempts to lift one of the giant rocks, but it doesn’t budge._

_Frustrated but undeterred, she instead tries to lift the rock beside it. The top of the rock opens with ease, revealing a small room built into the ground. Standing in the tiny space is her father. Upon seeing her face through the hatch, he climbs up out of the secret room._

_“Jyn! You found me!” he exclaims with a bright smile as he leans down before her._

_“But Papa,” she whines, disappointed. “You hid in the same spot as last week.”_

_He places both of his hands on her shoulders. “It’s very important that you always remember how to get here, my stardust.”_

_“I know,” she says dejectedly. “If there’s ever any trouble, I should come hide here,” she says exasperatedly as if she had to say it a million times._

_“That’s my girl.” He kisses her forehead and pulls her into a hug._

_But suddenly, it’s as if her father is a ghost and he begins to fade away. Her arms no longer feel his embrace, and his presence disappears altogether._

_“Papa? PAPA!” she screams._

Jyn wakes with a start and takes a few deep breaths.

Her daydreams of reliving her life has now affected her night dreams. This dream was mostly a memory from when she was nine-years-old...up until the point of her father’s disappearance.

As she turns her body so she lies on her back, she stares up at the ceiling.

From the day Krennic took her father to the time she ended up in the Wobani labor camp, not a day passed without her thinking of her father. Bitterness towards him grew each day for leaving her and abandoning her to a life without a true home.

And yet, despite this anger, there was a piece of her heart that still missed him. She misses the home they could have made together and the life they could have had.

_Father, where are you?_ she wonders.

She’d overheard Cassian mention her father’s name at dinner earlier that evening. Did Cassian work with her father at some point through his Imperial duties? Were they friends? Did he currently know where her father was?

Maybe she should talk to him…

At least a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, poor Jyn. :( 
> 
> So since Galen is dead, I obviously couldn't really follow Belle's dad story in Beauty and the Beast (but oh hey, Galen was a scientist...and then Belle's father was an inventor - similar work fields to me! The parallels write themselves! ;) So in this case, similar to how Belle goes to the Beast to get her father, Jyn now wants to go to Cassian to get info about her father. 
> 
> Also, fun fact about this chapter: a Gaston-like character wasn't in my original draft of this fic, but when editing, I figured out a role for him. So I hope you noticed (maybe even enjoyed in a weird way?) his appearance in this chapter, hahaha. :) 
> 
> Anyways, hope you liked the chapter!


	3. Where's Papa?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter! I was out of town last weekend, then this past week became unexpectedly crazy! I should be back on track to posting at least once a week now :)

_ Late in the evening, as he looks out from the balcony on the second story, he searches for his target amongst the group gathered below on the terrace.  _

_ Everyone’s laughing, glasses of champagne in their hands. Celebrating the latest graduates of the Imperial Academy. Rejoicing over the fact that the Empire continues to thrive. _

_ Scanning through the faces of the guests, Cassian spots a familiar figure with tan skin and dark hair.  _

_ His former best friend, Ry Ludu. _

_ It’s been a few years since he saw him last. He stands a bit more confidently. His body is more muscular, and he’s sporting a beard.  _

_ The two of them grew up together since their parents were good friends. He remembers running around with Ry when they were children, pretending to be Stormtroopers and wielding sticks that acted as blasters as they battled against one another. Sometimes his younger sister Avena would join in too. _

_ Their parents all joined the Rebel Alliance to fight against the Empire. The war was what Cassian, Ry, and Avena all grew up with. Avena trained to work in the medical field to learn how to administer first aid to those wounded. As child soldiers, Ry and Cassian banded together and would throw rocks and bottles at Republic _ _ walkers _ _ and _ _ clone troopers _ _.They were brought into the fight as children, learning how to fight and form battle plans together as they grew up.They were instilled to be dedicated to the cause.  _

_ But Cassian had to put all those fond memories of growing up together behind him.  _

_ When Ry and Avena’s parents died, everything changed. Despite years with the Alliance, they lost their faith in the Rebellion as teenagers and instead changed their allegiance to the Empire. They tried to convince Cassian to join them, but he refused. _

_ Now they were his enemies. He couldn’t allow memories of the past interfere with what he had to do now.  _

_ Couldn’t let feelings get in the way.  _

_ He’d emptied himself of feelings a long time ago. But he couldn’t deny the fact that they were currently threatening to surface.  _

_ All he was told by his superiors was that Ry needed to be executed for formerly being part of the Alliance, having now completed his training at the Imperial Academy.  _

_ But perhaps this is just some test for him, Cassian wonders. Maybe the Alliance is trying to figure out if Cassian can truly handle taking on the hard tasks that must be done in hopes of winning the war.  _

_ Ry begins to walk away from the people he was conversing with, heading towards the edge of the terrace.  _

_ Cassian aims his blaster at the man he used to play Dejarik with. The man he learned how to properly hold and shoot a blaster with. The man he used to always defend in battle.  _

_ Cassian’s body tenses as he fires.  _

_ The bolt hits Ry straight in the chest, knocking him to the ground as screams erupt around him. Avena rushes to his side, but looks up and catches a glimpse of Cassian before he ducks down behind the balcony wall.  _

_ “Shit,” Cassian mutters after having caught her stare for the briefest second.  _

_ He was too cocky - too confident that he could successfully do this - that he trusted the dark night sky would hide his presence and his face if he happened to be spotted by a stranger.  _

_ But he didn’t consider Avena being present...and now there’s a slight chance Avena recognized him.  _

_ But he can’t try to shoot her now without risk of being captured. He needs to focus on escaping. _

_ Remaining low to the floor, he follows his previously planned escape route and makes it out of the building without being captured. _

_ He completed his mission. Ry is dead. _

_And so is the old Cassian._

* * *

 

At breakfast and at lunch, Jyn didn’t see Cassian, nor did he appear during her shifts working on the interior of the new facility in between meals that day. And now at dinner, she still doesn’t see him anywhere. Actually, she realizes, many of the usual Imperial officers and stormtroopers hadn’t been present all day. 

She can’t help but feel...slightly disappointed. 

He knows something about her father, and she’ll take any piece of information about him she can get. And then, perhaps she’d be able to find him. To see him. To confront him for all the pain he’s caused her by his absence.  

_ But also to rescue him _ ...that small part of her heart that still longs for a home says. 

And of course, the one instance where Jyn is up for  _ some  _ talking, Cassian is nowhere to be found. Frustrated, she stabs her utensil into her food with a little more force.

“Careful. If you break that fork, they won’t let you have another one,” a voice nearby warns her. 

Jyn turns her head up to find the man she met the day before - Aston Metri - standing across the table from her. She can’t help but grimace, dreading what he might say to her today. 

Deciding to attempt to ignore him, she simply stares down at her food and continues to eat. But much to her dismay, Aston plops down in the seat across from her with his own tray of food before him. 

“May I eat with you?”

“No,” she replies coolly, wondering why he even bothered to ask when he had already sat down.

“Listen, these labor camps can be rough. It’s a good idea to make acquaintances, especially with someone such as myself,” he remarks with a wink. 

“I’ve been incarcerated before,” she says, thinking of Wobani. “I think I can handle myself.” 

Aston’s eyebrows quirk up in surprise at this piece of information. “You’ve been arrested before? My, you must be quite a rebel.” With his elbow resting on the table, Aston uses the palm of his hand to support his head as he continues to stare at Jyn, looking a bit enamored with her. 

She keeps silent, not even knowing what to say nor wanting to continue a conversation with this ridiculous man. 

“So since you’re so rebellious...are you on the side of the Rebel Alliance?” he questions her. 

“I am on no side except my own in this war,” she responds. 

“Fascinating,” he replies, still not touching his food. His attention is completely focused on her. “You’re such an enigma...it’s captivating.” 

Jyn nearly groans and wishes this conversation would just end. Just before she decides to get up and move to another table, she hears some commotion that sounds like a pounding of numerous footsteps. Glancing up to the cafeteria’s entrance, she sees a large group of Imperial officers - in dirtied uniforms and their hair in disarray - making their way in.

Among them, she spots the face she’s been looking for all day. 

“What’s your name?” Aston asks. 

Jyn’s eyes remain focused on Cassian as he makes his way to the food line as she replies. “I don’t think it’s necessary for you to know.”

“The mystery continues,” Aston smiles slyly. “I’ll just have to guess then.” 

Jyn tunes Aston out as he begins to rattle off random names as well as reasons why he thinks it would be a good name for her, expecting her to pipe up if he happens to guess the correct name. Jyn’s eyes continue to follow Cassian, who has now picked up his tray and is searching for a table where he can sit down. 

“Excuse me,” she abruptly interrupts Aston’s ramblings and stands up with her tray when she sees Cassian has selected a table. 

* * *

 

Cassian lucked out that day.

When he went out with a crew to destroy a nearby village on Avena's orders, none of its inhabitants were there. All of the homes were empty of people as well as their belongings. Thankfully, they must have known they were coming.

He went around with the crew to the homes throughout the village and set off bombs to destroy it completely. But no lives were lost at his hands that day. 

It’s a small victory - he knows Avena will surely have more deadly missions in store for him - but a victory all the same. 

It seems that that wasn’t the only victory in store for him today, he realizes, as Jyn sits down across from him at dinner. 

Shocked, he pauses his chewing and puts down his fork. She’s looking down at her own tray in front of her and remains silent.

Cassian takes the moment to swallow his food and waits. She came to him, and he doesn’t want to push his luck by saying anything that could scare her away.

She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. “Yesterday, I...I heard you mention Galen Erso.”

He nods in confirmation, but stays silent. 

“How do you…” she begins, but stops herself to rephrase her question. “Do you know where he is?”

And with those words, it feels like Cassian’s world is crumbling around him.

She knows who her father is, but doesn’t remember his death. And now he’s the one who has to tell her. She’ll have to relive her losing her father all over again.

Internally, he curses himself for mentioning his name yesterday. He had only wanted to know if she knew who she was and who her parents were. That she was at least aware of some part of her life. That her entire memory wasn’t gone. 

She’s nervously waiting for his reply. His hand, which is resting on the table, longs to reach out and hold hers. But he doesn’t think she’d react kindly to that, so he clenches it instead. 

“I don’t think...we should talk about this here,” he tells her. 

“So you know where he is?” she asks. 

“In a way, yes, but I…” he says hesitantly, but she interrupts him. 

“You’ve been wanting to talk. Tell me,” she demands. 

Slowly, he breathes out. “Jyn, Galen...your father,” he begins, making sure she knows that he’s aware Galen is her father. “He’s dead,” he says in a whisper that’s barely audible, but he hopes she heard him because he doesn’t want to have to repeat himself. 

He can tell she’s heard him though, from the way the glimmer of hope that was in her eyes moments ago quickly dies out. Sorrow rapidly replaces it.

“What?” she manages to say, but it sounds like she has hardly any breath within her. She turns her head away to avoid looking at him, but he catches a glimpse of the tears that are surfacing. “H-how?”

Again, he longs to reach for her. To embrace her. To let her cry into his shoulder. To hold her tight and never let go. 

“The rebels bombed the facility he worked at on Eadu,” he explains gently. “You were with him when he died.”

She peeks back up at him curiously. “How do you know this?” 

“I was there too.”

She tilts her head in confusion over his statement. “How were we both there?” 

“You and I...were on a mission for the rebels.”

“But you said the rebels killed my father? Are you saying that I played a role in killing my father?” 

“No,” Cassian is quick to say and shakes his head. “No. Your father helped develop a super weapon called the Death Star for the Empire, so the Alliance was afraid he would help make more weapons.”

She remains silent. She’s undoubtedly being overloaded with information and doesn’t know how to respond. She probably doesn’t fully understand. 

“I had been ordered to kill him...you didn’t know though. You were hoping to rescue him, after you received a message from him, where he said he put a defect in the super weapon,” he continues. 

She shakes her head incredulously upon hearing his words. For a moment, it seems like she’s trying to speak, but is failing to find the words.

She finally is able to find the strength to stand up. “Who are you?” she whispers harshly, and her anger-filled eyes stare down at him.“You’re here as an Imperial officer, but now you’re telling me that you worked for the rebels and nearly murdered my father yourself!”

“Jyn, if you’d let me explain - ” he pleads calmly, but Jyn cuts in.

“No, I think I’ve heard enough. I need to go,” she says before she picks up her tray and walks away. 

He thought her looking at him without recognizing him was the worst feeling he’d ever experienced.

But he was wrong. Her looking at him like the most despicable human being hurt the most. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading!


	4. The West Wing

While traveling via turbo-tank with the other prisoners to the newly constructed facility in order to build some interior fixtures, Jyn feels relieved that Cassian is not among those selected to ride with them. She’s had enough of him, his words, and his deceit.

She’d had enough heartbreak from him yesterday too. Last night, she couldn’t help but let a few tears over her father’s passing escape from her eyes when she laid down on her bunk in her cell.

Sure, there were some days where she would think that her father was already dead. It simply made things easier. It was something that was strangely more comforting to believe instead of thinking of the truth: that your father didn’t love you enough to stay with you.

And yet, hearing that her father was indeed dead...she couldn’t help but feel she was crumbling on the inside. The small hope for a reconciliation and that her father would want to right his wrong of leaving her...had been completely demolished.

But if Cassian is to be believed, then she was with her father when he died. And she doesn’t remember of single second of it.

Did she tell her father of all the pain and anger she’s carried with her because of him? What did he have to say to her? Did they find a way to make amends?

Cassian apparently may have the answers to these questions, but she can’t tell which side he’s on or what game he is playing. What he’s saying doesn’t line up with who he appears to be. He can’t be trusted, and she intends to never speak to him again.

The tank comes to an abrupt stop and the door slowly rolls opens with a creak.

The prisoners all line up to disembark. When Jyn steps off the tank, she looks up only to find Cassian’s face staring at her from outside the entrance to the facility.

Dismayed, she lets out a huff over the fact she can’t seem to escape him. Even the sight of his Imperial uniform brings more unpleasant memories to mind as she recalls when Saw found her as a young girl on Lah’mu and took her to see her mother’s dead body, emphasizing that the evils of the Imperials.

Turning her gaze to the ground, she follows the other prisoners inside.

* * *

 

He doesn’t even understand what he’s supposed to be doing. As part of keeping up his appearance as an Imperial officer, Avena assigned him to simply “keep watch” over the prisoners at the facility. Apparently, whenever she doesn’t have a crazy mission for him, this is what he is supposed to do. But he’s completely worthless if a prisoner gets out of hand - he isn’t trusted to have a blaster or any other weapon.

It’s another form of torture for Cassian because it brings more instances for him to witness how much Jyn detests him.

He can’t even blame her for ignoring him. He brought this on himself by mentioning Galen Erso. By telling her the truth. By agreeing to Draven’s order to kill Galen.

By even agreeing to take on the mission of bringing her to Jedha to get in touch with Saw Guerrera in the first place. It all comes back to that. Their current situation, those memories of Scarif...all of it.

He promises himself that he will get Jyn out of this prison and out of the clutches of Avena somehow. And then she can go wherever she wants, with or without him.  

Feeling a bit bored with just standing, he decides to take a walk around the facility and watch the prisoners install shelving. He still doesn’t know what the facility is for...perhaps for some Imperial training academy.

He reaches the corridor where Jyn is currently kneeled down, looking incredibly focused as she attaches a plank of wood to the wall. He pauses his walk to watch her.

With the next plank she takes from the stack on the ground, she fails to grasp it well and struggles to hold on to it, causing one end of it to crash to the ground. On instinct, Cassian lunges forward to help her hoist the piece of wood.

She turns to him and her face shows traces of irritation before she averts her eyes from him. Once they drop the wood into place to sit on top of the other pieces, she backs away and heads down the corridor.

Cassian’s eyes follow her. An armed stormtrooper stands near the facility entrance that Jyn’s heading towards. But Cassian’s attention is drawn toward two other prisoners, who are approaching the stormtrooper from behind.

The black-haired prisoner carries a plank and thrusts it forward to knock into the stormtrooper’s head, causing him to collapse to the ground. The stormtrooper’s blaster clatters on the ground and is quickly picked up by the other prisoner with tan skin and short brown hair. The two of them bolt toward the facility’s entrance, as a surge of Imperial officers come up from behind Cassian and soar past him in their direction.

Jyn’s caught in the chaos and attempts to move off to the side of the corridor, away from the officers as the tan-skinned renegade prisoner begins firing the blaster.

But he has poor aim, Cassian learns, when a shot hits Jyn in the arm. The impact causes her to fall to the ground.

“JYN!” Cassian shouts as he runs toward her as the Imperials continue their chase after the prisoners outside the facility.

She winces in pain as she rolls up the sleeve of her shirt and puts her hand against her wound. The blood is smeared all along her arm.

Quickly, Cassian pulls his gray uniform top up over his head and tosses it to the ground, revealing the thin, tattered white shirt he has on underneath. Grabbing at the bottom of his shirt, he tears the material so he has a large strip of it and leans down beside her to hastily wrap it around her injury. Jyn’s breathing heavily, and she lets out a hiss when Cassian ties the makeshift bandage.

A pounding of footsteps signals the approach of someone behind them. Cassian turns to look up and sees Avena eyeing them suspiciously.

“She needs to be taken to the medical center immediately,” Cassian tells her as if he’s commanding her.

“I have other business to take care of first, Andor,” she snidely remarks before continuing over toward the facility entrance.

* * *

 

When Avena steps outside, a few of the Imperials who had chased after the two prisoners approach her. The renegade prisoner who fired at Jyn is with them and shackled.

“Where is the other one?” Avena asks the group sternly.

“Aston Mitri got past the fences and ran into the forest. We lost track of him, but a few troopers are still trying to find him,” one officer replies.

Avena lets out a frustrated sigh. “Well, he had a tracking device injected in him for a reason. Use the monitor to locate him.”

One of the officers reluctantly steps forward. “It appears the tracking system is down,” he says quietly.

Avena glares down at him. “Why is that?”

“Someone…” he nervously begins and avoids eye contact with her. “Someone must have hacked into the system and shut it down.” He quickly shuffles back to be in line with the rest of the Imperials to put distance between him and Avena.

Inside, she is seething with anger. “Take this one back to the main camp. NOW!” she orders, causing the Imperials to quickly make their way to the nearby tank.  

Behind her, Cassian exits the facility with Jyn following closely behind and her hand still wrapped around her injured arm.

Upon seeing them, Avena calls out to a specific Imperial officer, who doesn’t appear as afraid of her as the others. Instead, he stands more confidently before her.

“Rolfe, take this one to the medical center,” she nods over to Jyn. “Make sure she’s properly bandaged up. But absolutely no bacta.”

Rolfe nods in confirmation, while Cassian gives her an incredulous look. “No bacta? She’s been shot!”

Avena just smiles at him. “When we return to camp, Andor, you’re coming with me. I have a task for you.”

* * *

 

On arrival to the main camp, Cassian and Jyn are separated, with Jyn being taken to the medical center while Cassian is sent to his room.

It isn’t until a couple hours later that Avena sends someone to retrieve Cassian and bring him to a room in the West Wing.

When he first enters the room, he finds the captured prisoner in the corner of the room with his hands bound to a chain that’s attached to the ceiling. He looks weak and tired and has sweat dripping from his forehead. Bloody, fresh cuts mark up his body. He’s barely able to stand.

When he turns his gaze to the other side of the room, he sees Avena standing with Jyn beside her, along with the Imperial officer, Rolfe. Jyn’s arms are bound and Rolfe’s grip is tight around her uninjured arm. Her other arm has indeed been bandaged, but he can tell she’s resisting the urge to scream out in pain. His blood boils with anger at the sight.

Avena gives Cassian another one of her fear-inducing smiles that has him dreading what she’s going to make him do next.

Avena turns her face back toward the captured prisoner. “Thank you for your cooperation, Jesper Lefou. You no longer are of any use to me.”

He gives her a puzzled and worried expression.

“I do not take prisoners who attempt to escape lightly,” she adds before turning to Cassian. “Andor, this man used to be with the rebel alliance, but claims he defected and no longer bothers with the war. If that is true...isn’t that terrible? What a coward to not face the fight.”

_A coward._

How many times did Cassian wish he could leave this war behind? When he first was ordered to kill, he debated with himself constantly if he should just walk away. But as time went on, he trained himself to be numb to it all.

Avena then pulls a blaster out from her belt and holds it out to Cassian. “Kill him,” she orders.

Cassian simply stares down at the blaster in her hand.

Avena, clearly impatient, looks behind her back at Jyn for a second before turning back to Cassian. “Perhaps, a wound in her other arm would convince you,” she whispers so quietly that Cassian is the only person in the room who can hear her say it. 

Cassian rips the blaster from her hands instantly. “I’ll...I’ll do it,” he says quietly.

Avena smiles in satisfaction as she makes a hand gesture that implies for Cassian to go right ahead. He fights the urge to shoot Avena instead, knowing that Rolfe had likely been instructed to hurt Jyn if anything were to happen to Avena.

He steps forward but not without a glance toward Jyn. She’s looking intently right back at him, with a look of confusion. A similar look she’s been giving him the past few days.

He can’t think about her now or what she’s going to think of him because of this, or else he’s not going to be able to go through with it.

 _Suppress,_ he tells himself. _Be the man you used to be._

Taking a deep breath, he closes his eyes and clears his mind.

When he opens his eyes, he lifts the blaster up with both hands and points it directly at the chest of the prisoner.

“Please don’t,” the prisoner begs as he shakes his head. “Please don’t.”

Cassian is forced to tune out his pleas in an attempt to make this easier.

 _Suppress,_ Cassian tells himself again.

“Any day now, Andor,” Avena says behind him.

Cassian takes another long, steady breath, then pulls the trigger. Closing his eyes, he misses the moment when the bolt hits the man in the chest. But he hears him scream.

And then he hears nothing.

He looks at the man’s now lifeless body and promptly drops the weapon.

Turning around, he avoids Avena’s gleeful look and instead looks back at Jyn again, expecting to see a disgusted look on her face.

Instead, her gaze shows no trace of emotion.

“Thank you, Andor,” Avena says to him.

Her words sicken him, but he keeps watching Jyn.

By doing this, he kept her safe.

And that’s all that matters.  

* * *

 

It’s late, her arm is throbbing, and she can’t sleep.

Tossing and turning in her bunk, Jyn just can’t get comfortable enough to drift off. The pain is too much.

_If only they could’ve given me some damn bacta._

Instead, the medical center droids just bandaged her arm, and some Imperial officer named Rolfe instructed her to simply pray the wound wouldn’t get infected.

She curses the prisoner who shot her, who apparently was a friend of Aston Mitri’s. At least Aston ran off and to her knowledge had not been captured and she wouldn’t have to deal with him pestering her.

_That’s one less annoyance in my life._

With Aston’s escape, she’s even more eager to make her own escape from this place.

Lying her arm across her chest, she also can’t help but recall Avena’s seemingly significant glance at her that day.

It was a glance that caused Cassian to immediately grab the blaster from Avena’s hands, when he had hesitated before that.

But why?

When he grabbed the weapon, her initial thought was that he would fire it at her himself.

The whole ordeal was mind-boggling to begin with. She didn’t even know why she was even present for the killing of the prisoner. When she was bound and taken to the West Wing, it seemed like she was going to be punished for something. Instead, she had to watch Cassian murder a man...a man who simply wanted to forget this Galactic Civil War and escape this horrid prison.

Just like her.

And Cassian just shot and killed him.

Is Cassian waiting for the opportune moment to kill her too...just like her father?

“Jyn,” someone suddenly whispers from outside her cell, causing her to quickly sit up in her bed, startled. In the darkness, she sees a vague outline of a person crouching down outside her cell.

Slowly, she removes the covers from her body and makes her way to the the door to her cell. Through the cell bars and in the dim hallway lighting, she is able to distinguish Cassian’s form.

Should she even be surprised at this point that it turns out to be Cassian? She lets out a sigh of frustration, but says nothing.

Cassian extends his hand through the cell bars and drops a few rectangular packets to the ground. “Here, this will help with your wound.”

She doesn’t want to, yet she bends down to pick up one of the mysterious items and brings it close to her face.

_Bacta patches._

Part of her wishes she picked them up and threw them back in his face and told him to leave her alone once more. But she doesn’t. Instead, she rips open one of the packets and immediately applies it to her injured arm.

The touch of it against her arm instantly begins to bring her relief.

She looks back out the cell preparing to reluctantly thank Cassian, but he’s gone. He left as silently as he came.

Yesterday, she learned Cassian had planned to kill her father. Today, Cassian came to her aid to wrap her wound with a piece of his shirt. Then she watched him shoot and kill a man. And now he just snuck her some bacta patches.

Nothing makes sense. He’s a complete enigma to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> This one might have been the least Beauty and the Beast-ish, but the Beauty and the Beast parallels are definitely strong in the next chapter! (I'll give you a teaser because it's one of my favorite chapters: it's the equivalent of the wolf chase scene! :) )


	5. Hold Still

The day’s task could provide an opportunity that Jyn may not be able to resist, and the thought thrills her.

That morning, Jyn and the prisoners were all taken out to do some farming in the fields. It’s the first time they’ve done something other than working on building the new facility since she’s been there, and she welcomes the refreshing change.

And next to the field lies an enormous forest. A forest that could potentially provide her her escape.

All the other prisons she’s been in, she always either had a contact on the outside who was able to help get her out or she was able to bribe someone to let her go. But here, neither of those options are possible. She wonders how she ever got out of Wobani, considering she was in a similar situation then as she is now…

Her best bet might be to try making a run for it through the forest, hoping it’ll lead her to _somewhere_ or _something_ that can get her off of this planet. If anyone were to follow her, there’s a chance she could lose them with so many places to hide.

As she rips a weed from the ground and tosses it to the side, she feels the slightest ache in her arm from the wound she received yesterday. But the ache is nothing compared to the searing pain she felt last night. Thankfully, Cassian brought her bacta patches, or else today’s work would have been torturous.

She looks up and sees him in the distance, standing near some other prisoners who are also pulling weeds. Overseeing their work, she supposes.

Briefly, she wonders if she should go over to him and thank him for the bacta patches.

And maybe even ask him why he did it.

But then she shakes her head and reminds herself that that is a stupid idea. She still can’t figure out what kind of game he’s playing, and she shouldn’t be wasting any time on him.

Instead, she needs to focus not only on getting away from him, but escaping this prison. Especially if she could be randomly shot at again and not be provided adequate medical attention.

Who knows when she’ll be assigned to do farming again, making today possibly her only chance for a while.

Endangering her life is nothing new. She’s been living her life aimlessly and recklessly ever since the day her mother was killed and her father was taken by the Empire.

She makes her way over to the station where the stash of tools for the prisoners are and analyzes them, trying to figure out which one may act as a good weapon to defend herself. Right as she reaches out to grab a small, pointed shovel, she hears footsteps approach her from behind.

“You,” the stormtrooper says. “You’re coming with me.”

“Where?” Jyn asks, still holding onto the shovel.

“Into the forest. We need to scan the area and search for any intruders.”

“ _We?_ Why me?” she asks incredulously, unsure why she’d be asked to do a task that would seemingly be meant for only Imperials.

“I’m just following orders. Drop the shovel. Let’s go.”

Reluctantly, Jyn obeys and follows him into the forest.

“Shouldn’t I at least get a weapon in case I need to defend myself?” Jyn questions him.

“Officer Avena Ludu seemed to believe that you would be able to handle yourself without one,” he answers.

Jyn bites down on her lip to prevent a frustrated sigh from escaping her as they walk across the rocks and roots that are jutting out of the ground. Why Avena seems to despise her and seek to torture her, she has no clue. The news further drives her desire to escape as soon as possible.

Since it’s just her and this stormtrooper, she would just need to find a way to knock him out and then she could run. If only she’d been able to keep the shovel with her to attack him.

Slowly, they weave their way in between the trees. The sunlight streams through the branches and beats down upon them, causing beads of sweat to drip down their faces. The stormtrooper glances at their surroundings constantly, holding out his blaster, ready to shoot. Jyn observes the nature around her, searching for something she could use as a weapon.

Soon, the prisoners and Imperials in the farming fields are completely out of their sight, hidden by the vast woodlands.

Coming across a stream cutting through a clearing, Jyn reaches for the canteen attached to her belt as she asks to stop and refill it. The stormtrooper gives her a nod. Slowly, she heads toward the edge of the stream and kneels down beside it. Detaching the canteen from her belt, she dunks it into the water.

As she does so, she hears some rustling in the nearby bushes, startling her. She jumps to her feet and turns around.

Suddenly, a beast that’s roughly three-fourths her size with gray ragged fur pops out from behind the bushes and pounces on the stormtrooper from behind, knocking him onto his stomach on the ground. The creature - a species she has never seen before - swipes at the stormtrooper’s armor with its long, sharp claws and tries to pull his helmet off with its pointed teeth, letting out growls as it does so.

Frozen, her heart races and she’s unsure what she should do. She needs to find a safe area to hide right away. The stormtrooper appears to be unconscious, and the creature is preoccupied with digging its teeth through the armor into his skin.

Slowly, she crouches down to make her way over to a large boulder to hide behind.

But she quickly discovers that the creature did not come to this area alone when she sees another one predatorily coming out from behind the trees into the clearing, eyeing her as it growls. 

* * *

When Cassian looks across the field to look for Jyn in the spot where he had seen her working earlier, he finds she’s no longer there. Alarmed, he frantically looks around for her but he sees no sign of her.

No tanks headed back to the main camp yet, so he knows she wasn’t taken back. He had been keeping an eye on her, but then was called over to fix one of the prisoner’s tools that was malfunctioning.

He can’t help but worry over where she could be. There’s a chance Avena has something to do with it...and that’s never good.

He stalks over to where Avena is standing at the edge of the field, watching all the prisoners at work with a pompous look upon her face. It’s an expression that instills fear in Cassian.

Stopping right in front of her, he crosses his arms across his chest and speaks sternly. “Where is Jyn?”

She smiles. “Hello to you too, Andor.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s off on a little mission in the forest with one of the stormtroopers,” she says simply.

“She was just shot yesterday, and you sent her out on a mission? You didn’t even permit her to have bacta!” he shouts angrily.

“Well, luckily, she has you to give her some,” she yells back.

Cassian stills at her words, but is careful not to let his angry expression turn into one of shock and alarm.

“I saw the security holograms of your late night escapade, Andor. And now your dear Jyn is being punished because of you.”

Cassian drops his arms to his sides as his heart begins to race. He needs to go find her.

“Go ahead and look for her, Andor. Although, you never know what kind of dangerous creatures may be lurking in the forest,” she remarks with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

At her words, Cassian’s legs instantly back away from her, and he runs toward the first lines of trees. Avena clearly already knows what’s in the forest and intends for Jyn to encounter whatever’s in there.

He’s not certain which way they could have gone, but he just keeps running and tries to listen for any possible sounds that could indicate where she is. Luckily, it’s not long before he hears a noise.

Unfortunately, it’s a loud snarl that he hears. He summons the strength within him to bolt faster through the trees in the direction of the sound and nearly stumbles as he crosses over some jagged rocks. But he doesn’t let it deter him. He just keeps going.

The growls continue, sounding increasingly more vicious with each one he hears. They’re getting louder as he runs, and he can tell he’s getting closer.

When he turns past an abnormally large tree trunk, he comes across a stream passing through a clearing. Sprawled out on the ground is a stormtrooper lying facedown, whose armor is cracked and covered in blood. It’s doubtful that he’s still alive.

He looks past his body and finds Jyn surrounded by three gray-furred creatures baring their teeth. She’s holding out her canteen in the air as her weapon, trying to figure out how to defend herself with it as the creatures inch closer to her.

Keeping calm, Cassian quickly looks around him, searching for something he can use. When he scans over the stormtrooper’s bloody body again, he sees his blaster lying not too far from him.

Cassian lunges for it, quickly picks it up, and aims it at the beasts. But Jyn has now managed to pick up a large, thick stick to also use as a weapon as she backs away from them. One creature steps forward in an attempt to bite her leg, but she shoves her canteen against its face, then uses the stick to repeatedly whack against the top of its head. The creature whines in pain as it collapses to the ground.

One of the other ones then begins to get ready to pounce on her.

“JYN LOOK OUT!” he shouts at her as he points the blaster at the creature and shoots right at its head before it attempts to nip at her ankle. It immediately falls to the ground with a moan as blood gushes out onto its fur. It loses consciousness and its eyelids close. The rise and fall of its chest gradually diminishes before it finally stops completely.

Cassian lets out a sigh of relief, and he can tell Jyn looks slightly relieved too.

But then he remembers there was a third creature...where did it go?

Jyn’s eyes widen in alarm. “WATCH OUT!” Jyn quickly calls out.

But he isn’t quick enough to react. Instead, he feels the paws of the creature push against his back, and he falls flat on his stomach. Teeth puncture through his uniform to his leg. He can’t help but let out a yelp as he tries to pull his leg out of its jaws and readjust the position of his body so he can properly aim his blaster.

The ferocious creature then moves to bite at the side of his rib cage, but before it can do any more damage, Jyn runs over to them and uses her stick to repeatedly jab against it to get it to back away.

Cassian’s arms tremble as he turns the front of his body toward the creature behind him and lifts the blaster. The instant Jyn backs away from the beast, he pulls the trigger. The bolt hits it straight in the chest, and it falls to the ground unconscious.

After a slow scan of their surroundings and no sign of any more of these horrendous creatures, he turns his body so he’s flat on his back as he pants. He doesn’t look at his injuries, but he can tell that blood is pooling on the ground beneath him as he looks to the sky.

“Jyn,” he manages to say in between breaths. “Are you all right?”

Jyn, also breathing hard, kneels down beside him and nods her head.

“You need to go. While you can. While you have this chance. Take the blaster and _run._ Find a way out of here. It’s not safe for you at this camp.” He hands her the blaster as he speaks.

Jyn grabs hold of it, but makes no move to get up. Instead, she just stares down at it.

“Jyn. _Go!”_ Cassian reiterates, frustrated.

Slowly, she moves to stand up and jogs away from him.

* * *

She doesn’t go very far. She only makes it a few feet away before she hurriedly turns around to run back to Cassian.

When she was injured, he gave her bacta patches. She was nearly killed by ferocious beasts, and he came to her aide. And then he even encouraged her to escape.

She can’t just leave him lying in the forest to bleed out and die.

Tossing the blaster to the side, she kneels beside him again.

“Jyn, I told you to go,” Cassian says weakly upon seeing her face hover over his as he begins to lose consciousness.

“I can’t leave you here to die,” she whispers. At the sight of his leg and chest bleeding profusely, she realizes she needs to get him some bandages. And fast.

Cassian sighs, but doesn’t argue with her. Instead he lifts his arm and looks as if he’s trying to wriggle out of his uniform, except he’s too weak to do so.  Jyn catches on to what he’s trying to do and unbuttons his gray Imperial uniform.

“Keep talking. Stay with me,” she tells him, hoping he doesn’t pass out. She slides the sleeve off of his left arm, revealing his white shirt underneath that is now colored crimson around the area of his chest wound. And just like the day before, a part of his shirt will be used to bandage wounds. Except this time, their roles are reversed. “Talk,” she reminds him gently as she rips pieces of the non-bloodied area of his shirt.

Cassian’s eyes are threatening to close, but he finally moves his mouth to speak. “The way you fought off that beast...it reminded me of when we were on Jedha.”

His words make Jyn curious as to why she was on Jedha and what could have possibly happened there. “Why is that?” she asks him as she folds up a piece of his shirt to press against his wound. “Hold this here,” she orders him as she brings up his right hand to lay against the cloth.

“When we were there...there was an uprising. We got caught in the battle, and when I went to help you, you didn’t need it. You already had taken care of a group of stormtroopers yourself,” he recalls in a quiet voice as Jyn lifts his injured leg and wraps a strip of material around it.

“Why were we on Jedha?” she asks him as she tightens the bandage and ties it. She needs him to keep talking, but she also longs to know what she can no longer remember...even though she’s still questioning whether he’s telling the truth. He’s a supposed Imperial that was caught in a battle against stormtroopers...

Cassian takes a deep breath. “We needed to talk to Saw Gerrera. Jedha was where he stationed his group.”

For a moment, her body stills when he mentions Saw. Not only does Cassian know of her father, but he knows of Saw as well.

“Do you remember Saw?” Cassian asks her.

“Yes,” she nods. “Hold still. This may sting a little,” she instructs him and then takes her canteen, opens it, and pours water along his leg and chest to wash off the blood that’s smeared across his body. Cassian can’t help but wince when the water ends up soaking through the makeshift bandages.

She peers over at his face and sees him struggling to keep his eyes open. “I think...I think there was some kind of poison in the creature’s bite,” he remarks calmly.

Jyn places the back of her hand against his forehead, before gingerly resting it against his cheek. “You’re burning up. We need to get you out of here.”

When she pulls her hand away, it instinctively goes to the base of her neck out of habit. Except this time, there’s nothing there for her to grab hold of, and she drops her hand to her side.

It’s a small movement, but in his near delusional state, Cassian notices it all the same.

“Your necklace,” he says. “It’s gone,” he states, rather than questions.

Jyn still nods in confirmation anyway. Should she even be shocked that he knows about her necklace?

“But you had it. When we escaped Scarif, you still had it,” he continues. “She must have taken it.”

_Escaped Scarif? What does that mean? What else have Cassian and I done?_

She leans forward to slide her arm beneath his back to adjust his body so she can prop him up against the trunk of a nearby tree.

“I’ll get it back for you, Jyn,” he murmurs. “I promise.”

Considering he’s nearly unconscious, Jyn doesn’t think it’s a true promise. He probably won’t even remember that he said that...if he does manage to survive this.

At the sound of some rustling through the forest, she instinctively moves her body so it shields Cassian’s, fearing another one of the creatures has come to finish them off. But when she looks up, a group of stormtroopers and Avena step out from behind the trees instead.

Avena looks over at Cassian’s body. “Bring him back to the medical center immediately,” she orders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that chapter! :) Thanks for all the love!


	6. Thank You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for all the comments on the last chapter!
> 
> Apologies for the slight delay in the posting of this chapter. I've definitely been spazzing out the past 2 days, being all like "I NEED TO EDIT AND POST THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!" So now I'm staying up late to finally get it posted!

It’s been three days since Cassian was attacked by the beasts in the forest.

Jyn hasn’t seen him since that day, when they were taken back to the camp’s medical center. Cassian had fallen unconscious and was sent to another room, while a nurse cleaned up the blood off of her and looked over her wounds to make sure she wasn’t severely hurt. All she had were some minor cuts and bruises.

Avena ordered for Jyn to once again not receive any bacta for her injuries. Thankfully, Cassian had given her a few patches that night he came to her cell before the incident, and she was able to use them to help rid herself of the pain.

As she lays in bed, attempting to fall asleep, she can’t help but wonder...is Cassian all right?

Cassian...an Imperial officer.

An Imperial officer who embraced her upon their “first” meeting. Who claimed to know her and has shown that he knows of her father and Saw. Who snuck her bacta patches. Who mentioned being with her on Jedha attacking stormtroopers. Who came running after her in the forest to protect her from the beasts and saved her life. Who told her to run away after he was attacked.

His actions didn’t align with all of the Imperial officers she’s encountered in her life. The only things that seemed typical for an Imperial was shooting and killing the prisoner who attempted to escape. And even then, he seemed hesitant to do it.

When walking around the labor camp and going about her tasks the past few days, she couldn’t help but be on the lookout for him everywhere she goes. Every time she turns a corner, part of her hopes he’ll be there.

Because…she wants to talk. She wants answers.

If he died from his injuries though...would she even made aware of it? If he was dead, then his death would be...her fault. He’d have sacrificed his life to save her own. And she isn’t sure how to feel about that. After being left to fend for herself so often in her life, here was someone who... _cared_?

Turning over in her bed, she closes her eyes and tries to sleep in order to stop dwelling on these thoughts.

* * *

 

She’s too impatient.

It’s now been a _week_ since she last saw Cassian, and she can’t take it any longer. She needs to know if he’s even still alive and see so for herself with her own eyes.

As she hammers together two pieces of wood for her assigned task at the newly constructed facility, she comes up with a plan to have her be sent to the medical center.

There’s a stormtrooper patrolling nearby, passing through the corridors to make his rounds. When he approaches her area, she decides she’ll make her move to ensure he sees her.

Hearing footsteps nearing her, she begins to stand up from her spot on the ground. From the corner of her eye, she sees the trooper has now turned the corner and is heading straight for her.

Picking up the large pieces of wood she had just hammered together, she carries it as she heads down the corridor ahead of the trooper, showing her struggle to keep it lifted. That part isn’t an act as it truly is absorbing most of her strength to carry it. The next thing she does, however, is a part of her performance.

She deliberately steps incorrectly so her ankle slightly twists, causing her to tumble to the ground on her side, sending the wood pieces crashing down with her. When she falls, she manages to stick out her hands to act as a pillow and soften the blow of the impact for her head. As soon as she hits the ground, she makes sure to close her eyes and lie completely still.

She hears the stormtrooper break into a run, then plop down beside her, followed by a clank which she assumes must be his blaster that he’s dropped on the ground.

A hand lays against her chest to verify that she’s still breathing, then attempts to shake her shoulder a little. Jyn doesn’t say a word, keeps her eyes closed, and continues to remain completely still.

She also resists the urge to smile when she hears him report in his comlink that a prisoner is unconscious and needs to be escorted to the medical center immediately.

* * *

 

Jyn finally opens her eyes once she feels her body has been laid down upon a bed. The first thing she sees are the blue eyes of a woman hovering over her. The same one who checked her a week ago for injuries from the beasts.

“Well, here you are yet again,” she remarks.

“My...head hurts,” Jyn says in a weak voice. Which is only a half-lie. Her head does ache a bit from her fall.

“I think you just need some rest,” she replies as she looks Jyn over. “Lie here for a half hour. I’ll retrieve some blankets.”

Jyn simply nods in response and closes her eyes.

But as soon as she hears the nurse leave the room, her eyes shoot open and immediately look towards the other bed that is at the opposite end of the room. In the bed, she sees the sleeping form of Cassian Andor tucked under some blankets, but his hands are bound and chained to the bed’s railing.

With a quick glance around to ensure no one else is around, Jyn sits up, swings her legs over the edge of the bed, and slides off of it. Once her feet hit the ground, she bolts toward Cassian’s bed.

But she moves a little too quickly in her rush to speak to him before the nurse returns, and she trips over her own feet. She quickly grasps the railing attached to Cassian’s bed to keep from falling to the ground and to steady herself.

Her eyes look at Cassian only to discover that his brown eyes are now wide open and staring back at her.

Maybe it’s just the fear that the nurse will return any minute, but she thinks there’s a possibility that her heart could be racing due to the feel of his gaze.

* * *

 

At the sound of a _thump_ against the ground **_,_ ** Cassian awakes and stares out into the medical room. He’d been in and out of sleep for the past few days, so fortunately, he’s already aware why he’s here and not completely disoriented.

When he looks beside his bed, he sees the familiar form of Jyn with her head facing down and her hands gripping the bed railing so hard her knuckles turn white.

_Am I dreaming?_

Her face then turns up to him, and she looks surprised.

“Jyn?” he says softly, puzzled by her appearance. “Are you all right?” he asks as he wonders why she’s in the medical center. She thankfully hadn’t been severely injured from the attack in the forest, and he hadn’t seen her at all during the moments he’d been awake the past few days.

“I’m fine,” she says. Then a slight blush of embarrassment creeps over her face. “I...pretended to be unconscious to get in here.”

Cassian isn’t sure he’s ever seen her blush before, but he finds that enjoys the sight. He gives her a small smile.

“Are you all right?” she asks him.

“Yes, it just took them a while to remove the poison from my system. They’ve been taking me in and out of the bacta tank for the past few days. The wounds were deep,” he explains.

Jyn nods slowly in reply.

“What are you doing here?” Cassian can’t help but ask. Why would she want to be sent here?

“I…” Jyn begins hesitantly and looks down at her feet. “I pretended to be unconscious to be brought here because I needed to see that...you were alive. I’m sorry you were bitten and poisoned...because of me.”

“Trust me, this is all _my_ fault,” he mutters bitterly. “You shouldn’t even be at this camp. You should have run away when you had the chance,” he scolds her.

“You would’ve bled out and died!” she says with a slight edge to her voice in a hushed tone. She lifts her eyes to meet his.

 _She’s still the same stubborn Jyn_ _and the same selfless Jyn who protected a young girl caught in the crossfire on Jedha,_ he realizes. The thought softens his anger. _She’s still the same woman I know, admire, and care for..._

“Well...thank you. For not leaving me to die,” Cassian replies honestly. To know that she cared enough to not take the chance to leave...he can’t help but hope they may be able to build up their relationship to the way it was before she lost her memory of him.

“Thank you...for saving my life,” she sincerely tells him in return.  

“You’re welcome,” he says tenderly.

“Why did you do it anyway? Why did you tell me to run?” she adds after a pause. “You’re an...Imperial.”

“I - ” Cassian starts to speak, not even sure how to answer her question when there’s so much he needs to tell her, but he’s interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open.

The nurse walks inside the room, carrying a stack of folded blankets. “Well, it appears you’re feeling better,” she says in a disinterested tone but gives Jyn a pointed look. “Time for you to go back to work.”

* * *

 

The nurse sends Jyn on her way, and Cassian’s heart sinks as he watches her go.

But she sought _him_ out, to make sure he was okay, and to thank him.

_She didn’t look at me like I was a monster._

And she had asked why he told her to run, which means she may be ready to hear him out. To allow him the chance he’d been waiting for to explain to her all that had happened.

He wishes he could break free of his binders and go after her.

But then he suddenly remembers the promise he made her after the attack and the promise he intends to keep...her necklace. He needs to find out what they did with her necklace and get it back.

He watches the nurse as she lays down the bundle of blankets on a nearby table before pulling away the sheets off of the bed that Jyn occupied.

If they were both taken straight to the medical center after the Battle of Scarif, then perhaps…

“When Jyn and I were brought here...were we taken here first?” he asks the nurse hesitantly.

She doesn’t pause her task, remaining turned away from him as she responds. “I believe so.”

“The belongings that we had on us...what happened to them?”

She starts putting new sheets on the bed. “They were removed from your person and stored away.”

“Where?”

“You aren’t permitted to know that information.”

Cassian remains silent, thinking about how else he could prod her. But then after she smooths out the bed sheet, she turns around and comes up beside his bed.

“I’m assuming there’s a certain object you want back. Do you want it badly?”

“Yes,” he reluctantly admits.

“I’m always willing to make a deal...I’m listening,” she informs him.

Cassian’s brow rises in suspicion. “But...you’re…”

“I have no allegiance to the Empire nor the rebels,” she states. “I only care about what’s in my best interests. If you’re willing to trade something of value, I’m willing to listen.”

“But...I don’t have anything to trade,” Cassian tells her.

She looks deep in thought for a moment. “I seem to recall finding a beige handkerchief made of Saava silk in your pocket on the day you were brought here.”

_The handkerchief…_

The mention of it brings to mind a memory of him and K-2SO completing a mission on Jenoport a few months ago - a mission Cassian wished he never remembered...

_He looks down in the garden below him and K-2SO from a clifftop. The garden is so full of various plants, he almost has trouble spotting his targets: a couple who are known to be prominent supporters of the Empire. But he manages to find them: A man clothed in fine ebony robes stands before a jade rose bush, laughing as a smiling woman in an emerald green dress appears and hugs him around his waist from behind._

_Cassian lifts his blaster and aims it first at the man. His plan is to shoot him first and then quickly shoot his wife right after._

_The wife releases her husband as he kneels down, appearing to be tending to the bush. As soon as he stands again, Cassian fires._

_The shot hits the man right in the chest, sending him crumpling to the ground. Cassian quickly adjusts his blaster and shoots at the woman._

_He starts to put away his blaster, but halts his movement when he hears the cries of a child._

_“Cassian,” K-2SO says quietly beside him and continues to speak in a gentle tone, which was rare for him. “It appears your shot hit the arm of a child who had ran up to the woman and reached up for her at the precise moment you shot the blaster.”_

_Cassian pales and gazes down at the garden to see the woman still standing, but now clutching a young boy who looks to be around six years old. His arm is bleeding profusely onto his mother’s dress as he wails._

_His shot had hit a child._

_And he took the life of that child’s father._

_Duty should have called him to then fire at the child’s mother to finish the job, but he finds that he can’t do it. He wouldn’t risk hitting the child again nor summon the courage to take away the child’s mother as well._

_“Let’s go,” Cassian states._

_The two quickly trudge through the fields back to their ship. It is there that Cassian can no longer hide his grief over what he had just done. He sits in his usual seat, stares down at the blaster in his hand, and lets the tears stream down._

_From behind him, he hears K-2SO rummaging through something. When he turns his head a minute later, he finds K-2SO holding out a Saava silk handkerchief in front of his face for him to take._

_Cassian takes it from him. “Where did you get this?”_

_“Thirty-seven days ago, we were at that marketplace on Fest. Do you remember?” K-2SO explains, but does not bother to pause to wait for Cassian’s confirmation. “And you stopped a thief from stealing a vendor’s silks. Out of gratitude for your help, the vendor gifted you with this. And when we got to our ship, I remarked that the gift was not very beneficial as there was only a six percent chance there would be an instance where we would need to use such a thing, remember? Well, now is one of those instances.”_

_Cassian nods, remembering that day, and proceeds to use the cloth to wipe away his tears._

_K-2SO takes his seat in the co-pilot’s chair and flips some switches to start up the ship. “You’re a good man, Cassian. And if your continued dignity and service demand it, you may wipe my memory,” he tells him seriously._

_Cassian, touched by his droid’s loyalty, folds the handkerchief and places it in his pocket as he shakes his head. “We don’t need to do that.”_

“I could get many credits for this silk. If you’re willing to let me keep it, I may be willing to retrieve both the handkerchief for myself and your object,” the nurse says to him, breaking him from his reverie.

Could he part with a handkerchief that had been given to him by his friend? K-2 had given it to him to remind him of a good deed he had done and to bring him a slight sense of comfort on that horrible day. Since then, he’d kept it with him to hold onto when he was in need of solace from what his duty required of him. And now it’s become a memento of his departed friend.

But for Jyn, he’s willing to give it up. He knows the kyber crystal necklace means a great deal to her. And Cassian owes her everything for bringing her into this rebellion and getting her caught up in this mess.

“Okay,” Cassian agrees.

The nurse smiles to herself. “What do you wish me to retrieve?”

“Jyn had a kyber crystal necklace...Do you recall seeing it?”

She looks thoughtfully towards the room’s entryway. “Yes. I’ll have it for you in two days.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's a line in the Rogue One novelization that says something like “On Jenoport, [K-2SO] had found Cassian staring at his blaster with tears on his face. K-2 had volunteered for a memory wipe in case Cassian's continued dignity and service demanded it.” So that's what inspired that Jenoport scene. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	7. Something There

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always get really mad at myself when it's over a week since the last update...Apologies for the delay!! Life is getting unexpectedly busy :/ 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

His legs ache, but Cassian does not care that he’s overexerting himself as he strides to the cafeteria for dinner.

He had just been released from the medical center, all healed from his wounds. With Jyn finally expressing interest in knowing why he’d tried to help her when she visited him the day before, he’s simply too eager to see her.  

It’s certainly not the first time he’s raced off to Jyn while in pain, as he thinks back to climbing up the data vault on Scarif after his fall. In that instance, he had been filled with worry and anxiety over Jyn’s safety since Krennic had spotted them. But this time, in his impatience to find Jyn, he’s filled with _hope._

Maybe it’s too ridiculous for him to hope, maybe it’s simply wishful thinking...but perhaps he’ll be able to tell her all that he knows of her life, and when he does, her memories will return to her.

Even thinking of this possibility propels him to walk faster.

When he reaches the cafeteria, he enters the food line and scans over the room to look for Jyn among the multitude of prisoners and officers chattering.

But he doesn’t see her.

Crestfallen, he collects his tray of food, and then searches the room once more for her, but still can’t find her. His previously excited spirits can’t help but deflate as he chooses a random empty table and plops down.

He picks up a utensil, but instead of eating his food, he uses it to push it around his plate absentmindedly. He’s suddenly lost his appetite.

“You’re back,” a voice says behind him. Startled, Cassian instantly takes his focus off of his food and pops his head up to find Jyn walking up to the table, holding her tray of food. He can’t help but let out a sigh of relief when he sees her and smiles.

“May I sit here?” she asks.

Cassian nods his head, and she takes the seat across from him.

“Are you feeling well?” she asks tentatively.

“Yes,” he replies. “Much better.”

 _Now that you’re sitting here, willing to talk to me,_ he adds in his mind.

They fall into an uncomfortable silence. Unsure of what exactly to say next, Cassian returns to playing with his food, and Jyn appears to be doing the same with her own food. Part of him wants to go ahead and tell her why he’d told her to run away when they were in the forest as well as all that he knows about her. But then he remembers her angered reaction when he tried to tell her before and her distrustfulness of him.

But surely, her willingness to come to his table shows that those feelings have somewhat changed?

Finally, after minutes of only the sounds of their utensils scraping against their plates between them, Jyn speaks.

“I’m...I’m ready to listen now,” she says before taking a deep breath. “To hear what you know about me, your explanations...all of it.” She looks up at him, her eyes showing a mixture of anxiousness and eagerness.

Cassian nods, feeling tremendously relieved that she wants to listen to him, yet also somewhat frightful of some parts of their history that he’ll have to relive and reveal to her. He gently puts down his utensil.

And so he begins to tell her everything. He speaks so quietly that Jyn leans her head forward to hear him as the the loudness of the chatter in the cafeteria from the other inmates and officers nearly drowns him out.

First, he reveals that that he’s an intelligence officer for the Rebel Alliance. Jyn already gives him a look of confusion and glances down at his Imperial uniform, but she says nothing. Cassian chooses to ignore her bewilderment for now, figuring they will get to that explanation later.

He tells her what the Death Star is - _was_ , he corrects himself when he remembers the prisoners who told him it had been destroyed - detailing its capabilities and only briefly reminding her that the superweapon had been developed by her father.

Which then leads into why the rebels then needed her. He tells her of her extraction from the Wobani labor camp, and a pang hits his heart when he mentions his late companion K-2SO was the one who extracted her. He points out that the rebels wanted her to put them in touch with Saw, who had captured a pilot named Bodhi with a message sent by her father. He goes on to explain their mission on Jedha, including meeting Chirrut and Baze.

Thinking of Bodhi, Chirrut, and Baze, he can’t help but assume they died on Scarif, and he fights back from allowing his sorrow to show on his face.

Continuing on, he describes the next few events in their mission: how her father sent her a hologram where he informed her of a vulnerability in the superweapon, their quick escape from Jedha, and Saw remaining on the disintegrating planet.

When Cassian mentions Saw’s death, Jyn looks down at the table and stares at her food.

But Cassian keeps going, disclosing Draven’s orders for him to kill her father and how she had explained to him her father’s hologram. How they went to Eadu, and Cassian left their broken down ship with the intention of killing her father.

He witnesses her clenching her fists on the table, still looking down.

But he carries on with his story - dreading this part, the worst part - when he tells her of her father’s death once more. At this, she turns her face back up to him, and her eyes are clouded with tears threatening to spill. Cassian feels a tightness in his chest.  

“Do you know what we said to each other?” she asks softly after he reveals that she and her father exchanged words before his passing.

“No,” it pains him to tell her. “With the rain and the explosions...I wasn’t close enough to hear. And you didn’t discuss it with me.”

Jyn just nods her head in understanding and returns to staring down at her plate. “You may continue,” she murmurs.

He resumes, describing her passionate speech to the rebel leaders and their lack of action, propelling them to go with their own group of rebels to Scarif without permission. He describes the events on Scarif, from their infiltration of the data bank as disguised Imperial workers to her interaction with Krennic. 

“Krennic?” Jyn says in surprise when he mentions the name. “He had my mother killed…” she whispers, and once again reaches for the necklace around her neck that isn’t there. Cassian prays that the nurse in the medical center wasn’t lying when she said she could retrieve the necklace.

He then recounts Krennic’s death and the transmission of the plans, followed by their escape from Scarif on an Imperial ship.

He reveals everything to her...except for the details of their elevator ride back down to the beach on Scarif: their closeness in that moment, the way she held onto him, the feel of her rapid breaths tickling his face, the look of longing in her eyes he thought he noticed that reflected his own.

“So we managed to transmit the plans? Did the rebels destroy the Death Star?” Jyn inquires.

“According to some of the other inmates here, they did,” Cassian answers.

Jyn lets out a sigh of relief. “Well, at least I know my father managed to atone for some of his mistakes.” Tears glisten in her eyes once more.

Cassian decides to take a chance. He can’t help himself as he reaches across the table to hold her hand and squeeze it.

She does not pull away from his touch, doesn’t even shudder. She simply accepts it.

“Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn,” he whispers.

She gives him a small smile in return, and Cassian thinks it’s one of the most beautiful sights he has ever seen.

And now he feels compelled to ask her…

“Do you remember any of that? Did any other memories come back after hearing that?”

It looks like she’s trying to think hard for a moment as she closes her eyes, but after a minute, she opens them and shakes her head. “No,” she states dejectedly.

The response crushes Cassian, but she’s still allowing him to hold her hand, and for that, he is extraordinarily thankful.

“If you’ve been a part of the rebels...why the uniform?” she questions him. “Why aren’t you a prisoner?”

He sighs. This is another part he had been dreading to tell.

“My parents and Avena Ludu’s parents were friends. We grew up together and were part of the Alliance. Her brother, Ry, was my best friend. After their parents died, they ended up joining the Imperials. A few years ago, I was sent on a mission to assassinate Ry.” Cassian’s eyes darken as he turns his face away from hers. He almost pulls his hand away from hers, but to his surprise, she seems to squeeze it a little tighter.

He lets out a deep breath before continuing. “Which is what I did. And Avena knew it was me. Now she’s having her revenge by making me ‘be’ an Imperial officer, doing missions for the Empire. She prefers to torture me instead of killing me.”

“What has she made you do?”

“I was sent with a team to destroy a nearby village. Fortunately, its inhabitants had already abandoned it. Then she had me kill that prisoner in front of you. Being incapacitated the past week has prevented me from going on more missions, but I imagine she’ll send me on another one soon.”

“That’s...horrible,” she remarks in a low voice.

The alarm signalling the end of dinner goes off, and the two reluctantly let go of each other’s hand. They part their separate ways without a word - only a small wave of goodbye - leaving behind their uneaten dinners.

* * *

When Jyn’s escorted back to her cell that night, she feels...overwhelmed.

To be told you did so much - been a part of battles, nearly died multiple times, rebelled against the Rebel Alliance and went ahead to Scarif to steal and transmit the plans to a superweapon used by the Empire and developed by her father - and not have a single memory of it...is discomforting. Unsettling.

And yet, for the most part, all that Cassian told her seemed...true. The way he recounted the course of their acquaintance and all they experienced, it all seemed accurate. It fit in what she remembered of her life. He spoke of Krennic, the man she knew her father had worked for and had had her mother killed. He even mentioned things that he wouldn’t have been able to make up, like the Death Star plans being labelled “Stardust,” her father’s nickname for her.

And when he brought up the other crew members - she tries to recall their names: K-2...something, Bodee, Base, and Chariot, maybe? - she could tell that mentioning them struck a chord within Cassian and his eyes became glassy. The emotion made his words seem all the more truthful.

He even described some unflattering aspects, including his original intention to assassinate her father and his initial reluctance to believe her when she said her father told her of the Death Star’s vulnerability in his message. These were things he didn’t have to tell her since it showed that they did not fully trust each other in those moments. But his willingness to share these anecdotes seems to further prove he’s being fully open and honest with her.

And the fact that he’s really a rebel instead of a true Imperial officer definitely helps explain his actions since they’ve been imprisoned.

The only bit that doesn’t make complete sense to her...is why Cassian goes along with pretending to be an Imperial and killing for them. He indicated Avena didn’t want to kill him...what prevented him from refusing her orders?

She would have to ask him later.

She also can’t help but wonder... _what were they?_

In listening to him talk, they seemed to go through a lot together. Were they just partners in battle? Friends? Maybe even more than friends?

She couldn’t help but feel...touched by the fact he always stuck around when he described everything. Based on all he said, it appeared they had had a rough start in the beginning of their acquaintance, but that seemed to change. Despite not winning the support of the rebel leaders to steal the Death Star plans, Cassian had come with a crew to accomplish the mission, believing that her father’s message was true. Then on Scarif, after falling down the data vault, he still managed to climb up it to get back to her and shoot Krennic.

Apparently, he had always been there for her. It didn’t seem like he was lying and trying to paint himself as some grand hero...because he’s been doing the same since they’ve been at this camp. He ran to her side and bandaged her wound with his shirt when she was shot by the prisoner that tried to run away. He managed to retrieve bacta patches for her after that injury. He helped get the forest beasts away from her and saved her life, even encouraging her to escape.

So was there something more between them in the part of her life she doesn’t remember? He may have been too embarrassed to say.

And is there something more between them...now?

When he had grasped her hand, she didn’t shy away or pull it back.

In a way, it felt comforting and...right? She isn’t sure.

But she does know that she doesn’t hate him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, this chapter wasn't too boring considering I basically had to summarize the events of Rogue One, haha. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> Thank you so much for all the kudos and comments! :)


	8. Close Your Eyes

Early the following day, Cassian visits the nurse, who kept her promise to retrieve Jyn’s kyber crystal necklace. Luckily for him, he’s supposed to visit the medical center for a dose of medicine every so often as he recovers, so it’s not suspicious at all for him to to go there.

As soon as she hands him the necklace, he looks it over to ensure it is indeed the necklace before slipping it into his pants pocket.

The nurse then holds out the Saava silk handkerchief from K-2SO that Cassian had always carried with him to show she had found it and to confirm that she can accept it as payment.

Cassian nods his head in reply. It was something that brought him comfort, to remind him of his humanity. But currently, Jyn’s needs are greater than his own.

And now he would just need to figure out a way to inconspicuously give the necklace to Jyn.

* * *

 Crouching low to the floor, Jyn twists in the final screw of the wall panel at the facility with a screw driver. Right as she’s about to move on to the next panel, she sees the shadow of a figure approach her.

She glances up to find Cassian standing a few feet from her, giving her a small smile. Then, without saying a word, he gestures for her to follow him around the corner into a slightly darkened corridor.

Curious, she puts down the screwdriver and follows him.

When she turns the corner, Cassian glances around them to make sure no one else is near before he reaches his hand down in his pocket.

“Close your eyes,” he tells her gently.

Instead of following his orders, she gives him a puzzling look. “Why?”

“It’s a surprise,” he says and gives her another kind smile. She thinks she feels her heart leap when she sees it.

Somewhat reluctantly, she closes her eyes. But part of her is eager to discover what kind of surprise it is. The last time she was surprised with a gift was probably by her mother on one of her birthdays when she was a child.

She fights the urge to open her eyes when she feels some kind of object fall against her chest. Then she feels Cassian’s warm hands graze against her neck, and the contact makes her blush.

When he fidgets with something against the back of her neck - she can tell by the way his fingers continuously brush against her skin - she realizes that he must be putting on a necklace.

_Could it be the kyber crystal necklace from my mother?_

“Can I open them?” she whispers eagerly right as the touch of his fingers against her leave her neck.

“Yes,” he says softly, and Jyn immediately opens her eyes to look down at her chest. Grasping the crystal, she holds it up in front her face and realizes it truly is the kyber crystal her mother gifted her.

She looks back at Cassian and her face brightens while tears of joy sting her eyes.

Despite his delusional state after their encounter with the forest beasts, he remembered the promise he made. He’d only been out of the medical center for two days and he already managed to obtain her necklace.

“Thank you,” she says sincerely. Cassian grins more brightly and nods. He’s only standing a few steps away from her, but Jyn shocks herself when she finds herself wishing he was much closer to her.

“You’ll just have to wear it underneath your shirt though. Avena can’t know that you have it,” he states.

Jyn nods in understanding before tugging the top of her shirt away from her chest so she could let the crystal hang beneath it.

She peers back up at Cassian. His gaze is intently upon her face and she can sense she’s blushing once more. He seems to lose himself for a moment, but he soon catches himself and shakes his head. “You should probably get back to work before anyone notices us,” Cassian says, then turns his body to walk away from her.

Jyn quickly reaches out to grab his hand, which continues to feel...right _._ “Cassian, wait!”

He stops and turns to look back at her, waiting for her to continue.

“Join me for dinner?” she asks hesitantly while still holding his hand.

“Yes,” Cassian replies with another warm smile. “See you then,” he adds while giving her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go and continuing to make his way down the hallway.

* * *

 After she picks a seat at an empty table during dinner, Jyn waits impatiently for Cassian. Her hand begins to tap the table beside her tray from her restlessness. Annoyed at herself, she starts to poke at the white mush before her with her spoon and only takes an occasional bite.

She’s not even sure why she’s so impatient to see him. Dare she say she may be...eager for his presence?

He’d found her necklace for her - her most precious possession. She doesn’t know how he managed to get a hold of it or what he risked to retrieve it, but he did get it. And she can’t help but feel tremendously grateful for it. The necklace is a source of comfort for her - something she knows and recognizes amongst everything else that is all so unfamiliar to her.

At least this necklace brings back memories she can actually recall. She remembers the countless times she’d grasped it in the past, searching for strength in times of difficulty and stress.

It was the most touching gift she’d ever received. Not that she’d received many gifts in her life...making the gesture even more affecting.

Too wrapped up in these thoughts, she doesn’t even notice Cassian near her table until he sits down across from her.

“Hi,” he says.

Startled, she turns her head up and shyly smiles. “Hi,” she replies softly.

They’re silent for a brief moment, before Cassian decides to break it.

“How was your day?”

“Tiring,” she answers. “...H-how was your day?” she asks back awkwardly. She was never good at...talking.

“Great,” he says simply.

It seems like he isn’t good at talking either, as the two of them both start picking at their food.

Jyn breaks the silence this time. “Thank you again...for my necklace.”

“You’re welcome,” he responds tenderly.

His gaze at her is so intense, she has to look down at her food. “How were you able to get it?” she questions him as she pushes the mush around on her plate.

Cassian swallows. “The nurse knew where it was, so I traded for it.”

“What did you trade?”

“A piece of Saava silk,” he states reluctantly.

“You had a piece of Saava silk?”

Cassian nods, but Jyn is perplexed by this information. How did Cassian happen to have Saava silk with him when they apparently had come to the labor camp right after a battle on Scarif?

“I had kept a handkerchief made of Saava silk in my pocket.”

“I’m sorry you had to give it up.”

“It was worth it,” he says quietly.

“What was worth it?”

Cassian reaches his hand up behind his head to scratch at his neck as he takes his gaze off of her. “The look on your face...when you saw the necklace.”

She can tell her face is reddening, and it appears Cassian’s is too.

“Cassian...what are we?” she decides to ask, and his body tenses.

“What are we?” he repeats in a low voice, confused.

“You’ve told me what we’ve done for the war together. But what did that...make us? Did it make us...anything?”

“We’re…” Cassian hesitates. “We’re comrades.”

“Comrades?”

“Yes, we’ve gone on missions together for the rebellion. So I’d call us comrades.”

“Oh.” Jyn surprises herself when she finds herself feeling...slightly disappointed?

With all he’s done for her...she’s unconvinced by his words. How could they simply only be considered comrades?

Suddenly, she sees Cassian look to the other side of the cafeteria, and his body stiffens. Jyn turns in the direction he’s looking and spots Avena talking to another officer.

“Jyn...you need to act like I’m irritating you. Like you want me to go away,” Cassian states seriously in a hushed tone.

“Why?”

“It’ll be better for you...and for me...if Avena thinks you hate me. She’ll...she’ll punish us both more if looks like you don’t hate me.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“I’ll explain further...at another time. But it would probably be in our best interests if you angrily stormed off to another table right about now.”

Jyn sees Avena turn her head towards them. Jyn quickly moves her stare to Cassian. She’s still not sure exactly why she’s going to do what she’s about to do, but she goes along with it. In a huff, she stands up and quickly picks up her tray. Spinning on her heel, she stalks away to another table.

When she sits, she subtly searches for Avena once more to find her smirking at Cassian. When Jyn shifts her stare to Cassian’s, he’s staring back at her and giving her a warm, appreciative smile. But when Avena advances toward him, his face turns into one of dejection.

* * *

“There, there, Andor. I’ve got something to cheer you up now that you’ve healed. Another mission!” Avena exclaims with devious glee when she stands beside Cassian’s chair.

Cassian forces himself to not let out a groan or show a grimace. He refuses to give her the satisfaction, so his face remains apathetic.

“You’ll depart the day after tomorrow,” she adds. “And you’ll be gone for probably two or three days for this mission.”

“Two or three days?”

“You’ll have much to do,” Avena simply says before strolling away.

Angered by what that could mean, Cassian plunges his spoon into his food with more force than necessary.

He needs to get Jyn out of here as soon as possible and get her far away from this insane woman...and then he needs to get himself away from her.

The thought of Jyn brings back the memory from earlier that day when he gave her the necklace. Her face had shone so brightly that he found himself...breathless.

And when she asked him to eat dinner with her...he was ecstatic to say the least. There was progress, and there was a chance things between them could nearly go back to how they were when she did have all her memories.

...But he’s not exactly sure how he would describe what things between them were like then. When she asked him what they were, he wasn’t even sure of the answer to that question himself.

He nearly cringes when he remembers telling her they were comrades.

They certainly were friends who had each other’s backs and looked out for each other. But on that elevator ride down from the tower on Scarif...in that moment, he wanted to kiss her.

But whether she wanted to kiss him back, he may never know. The look in her eyes, however, seemed to show she wouldn’t be opposed to the idea.

But maybe she was just feeling the euphoria of a mission that was successful despite the odds. They had just managed to retrieve and transmit the Death Star plans and kill Krennic. The look in her eyes could have just been her relief and satisfaction over their triumph.

He shouldn’t dwell on it though... _that_ Jyn may never return.

For now, he just needs to focus on saving the Jyn he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I consider Cassian giving Jyn the necklace the equivalent to the Beast giving Belle the library...so hopefully you enjoyed the bit of cuteness in this chapter :)
> 
> Just to give you guys an update: when I first outlined this story when I started it, it was supposed to be around 10 chapters. Welp, that's no longer true. I've re-outlined it now so it looks like it'll more be like 15 chapters (eeeep! haha).
> 
> Thanks for the love! Let me know your thoughts! :)


	9. New, and a Bit Alarming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aghhh, I'm so sorry for the delay! Life has been SO busy lately!!

The following evening, Jyn picks up her tray of dinner in the cafeteria and scans the room for Cassian. Despite them being merely  _ comrades  _ apparently, she still feels... _ drawn  _ to him. There’s some kind of pull towards him that she can’t deny.

It had been another day of building interior fixtures for the new facility, and she found that she couldn’t turn a corner without hoping that Cassian would appear. She looked forward to whenever she’d see him. That day, she’d only seen him twice in which they passed by each other while walking through the corridors of the facility, and both times they’d exchanged a brief, secret smile.

And both times, Jyn may have felt her heart do a flip.

She wishes she knew him better...like what he did before joining the Rebel Alliance. How he ended up joining the Rebel Alliance. What his family was like. They’d spent most of their time talking about her and all that she doesn’t remember...but she wants to know who he truly  _ is. _

She’d been later than usual in getting to the cafeteria. Freshening up after the day’s task took a bit longer, and she figures Cassian must already be sitting somewhere eating. She soon spots him across the room at a corner table. Her steps quicken as she makes her way to him.

When she arrives at the table, she opens her mouth to greet him and is about to fall into the seat across from him when he suddenly speaks to her in a low tone. “Stop!” he orders and his eyes look around the room at everyone but her.

Her body freezes in place and her eyes widen in alarm over the command, wondering what she’s done wrong. Did he not want her to sit with him?

“I don’t see Avena, but you never know who she has watching for her,” he says as his eyes continue to look around. “It can’t look like you  _ want  _ to sit with me,” he adds in a kind, gentle tone. “If you go sit at the next table over, I’ll join you there. That way it can look like  _ I’m  _ bothering you.”

Jyn still doesn’t completely understand this nonsense, but she nods and turns around anyway to head to the next table over.

She’s sitting there alone for a few minutes before Cassian appears and sits in the chair across from her.

“So I need to act like I hate you...all the time?” she wonders.

Cassian nods and avoids her eyes. “I’ll...I’ll explain to you why later.”

Part of her wants to demand he tell her why right now, but then he looks up at her and she sees the somber look in his warm, brown eyes.

But she can’t back down completely. “When will you tell me?” she questions him gently.

Cassian takes a deep breath as he stares at her, hesitant to speak. “When I get back from the mission Avena is sending me on.”

“You’re going on another mission?”

Cassian nods grimly. “Avena said I’ll depart with a team tomorrow morning. It’ll be a few days before I return.”

“A few days?” Jyn strangely feels...saddened by this news. “What is she going to have you do?”

He shrugs. “I’m not sure. She probably won’t tell me until we depart.”

“Why do you go along with what she asks of you? Why don’t you just...refuse?” she asks as she stares down at her plate and pushes her food around with her fork.

“I’ll tell you why when I get back,” he answers kindly.

Jyn looks back up at him and stares directly in his eyes. “I promise,” he adds sincerely.

Jyn brings her hand up near her neck to feel the necklace that lies beneath her shirt. His words remind her of that day in the forest when he saved her from the beasts. As he nearly succumbed to the poison that had infected his body, he promised he’d get back her necklace.

While she is still annoyed that he won’t explain right now, he’s proven that his promises are genuine. She decides to change the subject.

“Do you think...anyone from the Rebel Alliance is coming to rescue us?”

Cassian, looking dejected, shakes his head. “Considering how Scarif was obliterated, they probably assumed we all died. I don’t even think anyone else from our crew survived.”

Jyn continues to play with her food. “Can you...can you tell me about our crew?” she asks him.

Cassian looks sad at first, but when he begins to speak, his face gradually beams. “Well, I knew you longer than Chirrut, Baze, and Bodhi. But somehow, in the short time we all were together, we formed a strong team. Bodhi was quiet and often nervous, but...kind and dedicated. I think he was seeking to make amends with himself for having been on the Imperial side for so long. Chirrut was very intuitive and knew how to read people, despite being blind.”

“He was blind?” Jyn pipes in.

“I didn’t mention that the other day?”

Jyn shakes her head. Cassian chuckles. “Well, his blindness certainly didn’t define him. He immediately believed you when you told us about your father’s message about the Death Star and was a strong believer in the Force. Even though Baze and Chirrut were always together, Baze wasn’t a strong believer. He was a warrior...tough. He called you ‘little sister,’” Cassian says with a smile.

Jyn smiles warmly back, wishing she could remember this. It sounds like they had become a family...she wishes she could remember what having a family feels like.

“And K-2…something? I forgot what you said his full name was,” Jyn says.

“K-2SO,” he politely informs her. “He was a former Imperial droid, but I reprogrammed him. Me and him had been a team for quite some time...he had a very unique personality, a bit impudent. He  tended to say whatever came into his circuits, which was a by-product of the reprogram.  He didn’t seem to like many people, including you. You two would quibble,” Cassian remarks with a grin. “But he sacrificed himself for us to get the plans,” he adds quietly and a gloomy look comes across his face, which makes Jyn’s heart ache. It sounds as if K-2SO was like an annoying little brother, but a part of their little family all the same.

“Tell me about you, Cassian,” Jyn requests him softly. “Who are you? How did you come to join the Alliance?”

Cassian looks puzzled at first and takes a moment before responding. “I’ve always been a part of the war. I grew up with it. My parents fought for the rebels since I was a child. I’ve always been fighting against the Empire. This war is my life, and it’s had me do horrible things. I don’t even know who I am without the war.”

His honest reply is affecting. She reaches her hand across the table and grasps his wrist. “This war has made us all do horrible things. I do remember my days with Saw and the Partisans, and we had to torture and sometimes kill.”

Cassian drops the fork he’s holding and Jyn slides her hand into his palm to give him a squeeze.

“I know it’s not easy,” she whispers. “But don’t think you’re alone in this.”

Cassian smiles warmly at her. “Thank you.”

She suddenly sees Cassian’s eyes shift to something behind her and widen. He instantly lets go of her hand and moves his hand away to put it beneath the table. “Avena’s just walked in,” he whispers. “I think she saw us holding hands. Quick, slap my face and yell at me to go away. It’ll then look like I was the one who had just been trying to grab your hand.”

“I can’t just slap you!” she hurriedly whispers back.

“Yes, you can. Just think of how angry you are with me for not telling you why I’m following Avena’s orders.”

She thought she didn’t show her true frustration and impatience earlier, but Cassian clearly knows her well and saw past her calm facade. It makes her nervous. How has she managed to get so close to someone? No one’s ever stuck around long enough to truly  _ know  _ her…His words almost make her fearful and nervous, but then she remembers what she needs to do and focuses in on how he infuriated her by not answering her questions regarding Avena just yet.

With a scowl, she lifts her hand and slaps him across his cheek.

And the hit ends up being a tad harder than she intended when she sees Cassian wince. He brings his hand up to his face to rub it, but his mouth ends up turning upward into a smile.

Beneath the shield of his hand rubbing at his cheek, he mumbles. “Perfect. I’ll see you in a few days.”

Cassian picks up his tray and walks away from her.

* * *

 

The following morning, Cassian and a group of other Imperial officers and stormtroopers are instructed to travel by multiple land speeders to their destination. Avena orders Cassian to ride beside her in the land speeder that she’ll be flying, but Cassian shows no sign of the irritation he feels. 

The many land speeders depart at different times so they aren’t travelling together. The journey is somewhat long, and the ride is silent for most of the way, save for the hum of the speeder. Avena reveals nothing to Cassian of where they’re heading or what they will be doing. Cassian glances around him, trying to gather where they are and what’s around the labor camp. While he isn’t thrilled to be on this mission, he will take the opportunity to find a way to get Jyn and himself out of this camp.

He notices them pass by the area when the prisoners have had to do farming chores. They then follow along the edge of the forest where he had run after Jyn and they were attacked by the beasts. The forest is vast, and they follow along it for nearly a half hour. From the point of where the forest ends, they travel another quarter of an hour away from it when Avena begins to slow down the speeder.

“We’re approaching a village of rebel sympathizers, and we need to kill them all,” Avena states.

Cassian’s eyes widen in alarm. Avena parks the speeder behind some bushes in a small wooded area. As she exits the vehicle, Cassian follows suit.

Avena unclasps a blaster hanging from her belt. “If you don’t shoot at them, Jyn  _ will  _ be punished. And if I die on this mission, I’ve ensured that Jyn will be killed, so don’t be getting any ideas,” she tells him as she tosses the blaster to him. He catches it, and his heart races out of fear over what he’ll have to do.

More of the speeders from the camp arrive. Once everyone has parked and gotten out of their vehicles, Avena instructs them all to head into the village to kill all inhabitants. In small groups, they slowly and quietly leave the area, careful not to make a sound as they approach.

Suddenly, Avena yells “NOW!” and the officers and stormtroopers all run into the village, where the inhabitants are busy cooking over open fires and sewing and washing clothing in the midst of many huts that serve as their homes. The villagers are caught unaware, and soon the village erupts into complete chaos as shots are fired from Imperial blasters. People are running all over, trying to take cover in their huts or running away from the village altogether. Amidst the sounds of blasters shooting, screams and shouts cry out.

Avena is near Cassian and appears determined to have him always within a few feet from her. When she eyes him, Cassian has no choice but to shoot his blaster at one of the villagers. When he spots a man who looks older than himself, he shoots at him but deliberately aims for his arm. The man manages to continue his run as he cradles his arm against the front of his body.

For as long as he can, Cassian intends to shoot the inhabitants in non-fatal areas, hoping they would be able to find a way to survive. Avena is too preoccupied with shooting their targets herself, she may not even notice that he isn’t killing them as long as he keeps shooting.

When they weave through the huts, Cassian fires at a woman who bolts out of one, and the blast only grazes her shoulder. But the hit causes her to stumble, and she falls to the ground, giving one of the nearby stormtroopers the chance to shoot a fatal blast.

Cassian has no time to mourn the loss nor be frustrated with himself, as Avena pulls on his sleeve to follow her and look in on each of the huts for any villagers. He prays they’ll find none.

They rush in and out of the huts when finding no one there. But as they near the end of the row of huts, it’s the last one they check when they find a young man trembling inside of it and trying to hide beneath a blanket.

Right as Avena yanks the blanket away from the young man, he bolts out of the hut, running past Cassian. Avena is quick to follow to him, and Cassian has no choice but to trail behind her.

Just outside the hut, Avena manages to lunge forward and grab hold of the man’s leg as she falls to the ground flat on her chest. The young man also falls to the ground. Avena wriggles upon the dirt to get a grasp on his other leg to keep him pinned down.   

“NOW, ANDOR!” she yells at Cassian, who is standing beside her feet.

Cassian lifts the blaster and aims it at the young man, who looks to be roughly twenty years old. Just as he’s about to shoot, the man twists his head to look back at Cassian. Cassian stares into his eyes - green eyes that remind him of Jyn’s - and attempts to give him a look to tell him that he’s sorry, that he doesn’t want to do this, and that he’ll regret this moment for the rest of his life.

He closes his eyes and pulls the trigger.

Amidst the mayhem, Cassian never notices the pair of eyes watching him from a distance behind a cluster of shrubs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize until after writing this chapter that Jyn slapping Cassian could be viewed as a parallel to Belle throwing a snowball at the Beast's face, hah! :) 
> 
> Thank you as always for reading! 
> 
> I just want to let you all know that I am trying my best to stick to weekly updates! (And the updates usually happen on weekends because that's when I often have the time to write/edit chapters!) And right now, since we're heading into the end, I'm making sure things are all set up for the remaining events of this story so it's a bit more time consuming! :) 
> 
> Hope you all have a fabulous week!


	10. Both A Little Scared

As soon as Cassian and the rest of the Imperial squad finish searching through the village for any remaining inhabitants, they collect some of the inhabitants’ belongings that were left behind that would be useful for them, then set fire to the huts before heading back to their landspeeders.

The sun’s beginning to set, and Cassian reluctantly takes a seat in Avena’s speeder while she plops down beside him. Cassian tries to push the image of the young man he shot out of his mind. Instead, he remembers why he’s even going through with this...for Jyn’s protection. He tries to focus on their surroundings. Somehow...somehow, he has to figure out a way for Jyn to escape the labor camp and get away from there. If he was able to find a way for her to run away from there, what would she be running into?

“Where to next?” Cassian asks, masking his rage towards her for what she’s made him do while she starts up the speeder. He can’t pick a fight with her with the threat of her hurting Jyn looming.

“You’ll find out,” she simply says before pushing a few buttons and accelerating them out of the wooded area. They appear to backtrack a bit, nearing the forest, then veering into another direction for a little while over open, grassy land.

They approach another area of woodlands, where they weave through the trees and soon reach a large clearing where a run-down building stands. Cassian peers at it curiously, wondering what building this is. It looks deserted and certainly isn’t visited often.

As they pull up along the side of it, they enter a hangar that’s attached to the building, where Avena parks the speeder.

Cassian jumps out of the speeder, looking around at the hangar as the rest of the Imperials pull in in their speeders. In the middle of it, he notices two light freighters and wonders if anyone else is here.

“There are some bunks here that we’ll spend the night in,” Avena informs him.

Cassian grabs his knapsack out of the speeder and tosses it over his shoulder while Avena collects her things. When she walks off, he follows her.

They head to the other end of the hangar, where they go down a corridor into the attached building. They only walk a short distance when Avena stops and points to a door. “You and the rest of the men will stay in there.”

Cassian nods, then walks through the doorway. The room contains a few bunk beds, but other than that, it’s empty. Picking a bottom bunk, he tosses his sack onto it. It’s then that two of the other male Imperial officers walk in, laughing boisterously over some kind of joke one of them told.

One of them comes up behind Cassian. “Mind if I take the top bunk?” he asks.

Cassian shakes his head. “Go ahead.”

While the officer climbs up to his bed, Cassian decides to take a chance to find out more about this place. He’s not sure if all the officers are aware that he isn’t a  _ true  _ Imperial officer or if Avena only informed a select few.

“What is this place?” Cassian asks.

“Oh, I forgot you’re new here,” the man replies. “There used to be an Imperial training academy here. It was torn down, but they left the hangar here in case it’s needed. We store fuel and tools here as well for when we’re this far out. And then when we need to occasionally stay the night out here, there’s these rooms. ”

Cassian nods in understanding. “Are others here? I noticed those two ships in the hangar when we arrived.”

“Oh, no. Those light freighters are older models, but still in working condition,” the other officer answers from the next bunk over. “They’re just kept here for emergency situations, if for whatever reason, we can’t use the ships at the camp’s hangar.”

Cassian lays down on his bed, and looks thoughtfully up at the bunk above him.

* * *

 

_ As she stands in the ballroom in her long ebony dress, Jyn can’t help but feel tense despite the sounds of a soothing, pleasant song being played.  _ Where is he, where is he, where is he,  _ the words repeat in her mind over and over again.  _

_ While she looks out at all of the Empire supporters in the crowd, searching for his face, she’s caught by surprise when a pair of hands suddenly press against her hips and spin her around. Looking up, she finds Cassian in a black suit staring back at her. _

_ He slides his one hand so it presses against her back, while his other hand grasps her palm as he leads them further onto the ballroom floor. The touch sends chills down her spine. _

_ “I was worried about you,” she remarks in a hushed tone as she raises her arm to place it atop his shoulder. “What took you so long?” _

_ Cassian begins leading their bodies to move in time with the music. “Well, in trying to distract Krennic, he decided he wanted take me on a tour of this palace,” he whispers back with a glance at the ballroom’s grandeur that surrounded them. “It took a while.” _

_ “Did you get the Death Star plans?” he adds discreetly as he leans his head forward to the side of her face. _

_ She nods, feeling the tightness of the holster around her thigh beneath her dress that is currently carrying the disk with the plans. _

_ “Okay, we’ll just need to remain here for a little while, so no one gets suspicious,” he tells her. _

_ “So in the meantime, we’ll just...dance?” Jyn asks. _

_ “If that’s what you’d like.” _

_ Jyn gives his hand a squeeze and stares in his brown eyes. “I would like that very much,” she says softly. _

_ She pulls his body closer to hers as they spin across the floor for at least two more songs. It’s like she’s completely forgotten about the rebellion and the task at hand. All that matters is her and Cassian in this moment. _

_ It’s while they wait for the third song to commence that someone taps her on the shoulder from behind. “May I cut in?” a female voice says. _

_ She turns to see Avena Ludu waiting expectantly. Without waiting for Jyn’s reply, Avena pushes her hand off of his shoulder and pulls apart their intertwined hands. _

_ At the loss of contact, Jyn feels cold and lonely. It’s as if a winter chill blew through the room. The lights in the room are suddenly extinguished, leaving nothing but darkness. _

_ “Cassian! CASSIAN!” she cries out, just before she stumbles and falls to the ground… _

Jyn jolts awake at the sensation of falling, breathing heavily. She looks out into her cell of darkness. It appears it isn’t even close to wake-up call yet, as she hears the snores of other nearby inmates.

She sits up in her bed and runs her fingers through her hair.

_ What a strange dream...dancing with Cassian... _

Cassian had been gone for only a day. But dare she say she...may miss him? Perhaps that’s what triggered the dream, which featured random events and people from their history?

Since being at this labor camp, she’d eaten her meals alone plenty of times and spent many days working in solitude, hardly speaking a word to anyone.

But today, Cassian was gone. They may have only recently started eating meals together and talking, but it already felt as if something was missing.

There had been something comforting about the fact that he was looking after her and being a friend to her...that she isn’t alone as she struggles to recall the memories of her recent past while being trapped in a labor camp. That she isn’t alone, period.

Because for most of her life, she’s been on her own. Cassian may have told her that in the time they’ve known each other, they had their squad in getting the Death Star plans that sounded like a familial unit. But in her current state, she doesn’t truly  _ know  _ what that was like and what that felt like.

She’d been part of Saw’s rebels, but she never truly felt like they were all bonded together. She was still on her own despite being a part of a group...especially considering they just up and abandoned her one day.

It’s almost alarming that she’s found such comfort in Cassian’s presence...and his touch. Whenever they’d grab hands, it always put her at ease. In the dream, she’d pulled him closer as they danced...was that a reflection of what she really wanted? To be closer to him?

Was during a time of war really the proper time to long for and have such things? All she’s ever known is this war - and trying to avoid it. And all Cassian’s life has evidently been is being involved in this war.

What if he up and leaves her, just like everyone else in her life, to continue to be a part of this war?

No, they can just stick to being comrades who help each other out. No need to long for anything more than that.

_ If only things were different... _

Remembering Avena’s appearance in her dream, she still wonders what she could possibly have on Cassian that makes him go along with what she asks of him. Thinking back to when she first “met” Cassian at this camp, she tries to recall all of her encounters with him and with Avena.

That first day, Cassian came to her cell along with Avena. And when Jyn asked who he was...how did Avena look? She knew Cassian was confused and hurt...but she must have been so focused on trying to figure out who he was that she never noticed how Avena reacted.

Then, when she was shot by the prisoner who tried to escape, Cassian told Avena that she needed to be taken to the medical center, but Avena brushed him off. Later, when Avena eventually had ordered for her to be taken there, she said she couldn’t receive any bacta treatment, outraging Cassian...And that same day was when she was taken to the West Wing and forced to watch Cassian shoot the prisoner who attempted to escape. At the time, she didn’t understand the purpose of her being there…

And that was when Avena seem to give her a significant glance. Cassian had been hesitating to shoot before that, but it wasn’t until after Avena looked back at her that Cassian immediately took the blaster from her hands...

Then that evening, Cassian managed to bring her some bacta patches.

The day after, they worked out in the fields, where the stormtrooper said he was following orders to take her into the forest for no reason. He’d also informed her that Avena felt she didn’t need a weapon to defend herself. Then, they were attacked by those beasts, and Avena once more ordered no bacta for her injuries.

And when she faked her visit to the medical center to see Cassian, what did he tell her after she thanked him for saving her life?

_ “Trust me, this is all my fault.” _

How could he have been at fault?

And now, whenever Avena appears, she has to act like she despises Cassian...and Cassian is hesitant to explain to her why. He won’t even tell her why he goes along with her orders either.

She can’t pinpoint exactly what’s going on, but she realizes…

_ It must have something to do with me. _

* * *

 

For Cassian, it’s another day consisting of destruction, murder, and fire.

They’d invaded three small villages of rebel sympathizers located throughout the nearby woodlands that day. Cassian had been dreading the attacks, but he’d only been forced to kill two people that day...less than what he had been anticipating. He’d feared he’d be forced to kill many more but many of the villagers had escaped before the squad of Imperials arrived, most likely having heard about the other villages that had been destroyed.

The second man he’d killed that day is currently a short distance away from him, lying face down in the mud. Cassian lets his blaster hang at his side as watches the blood gradually cease its flowing from the man’s back.

_ This is all my fault. _

Avena had been beside him when he shot him, coercing him of course, by constantly bringing up Jyn’s name.

As if he needed any reminder for why he’s doing this. Jyn’s all that runs through his mind.

She’s all he has left. He can’t stand the thought of her being tortured...or losing her.

As he looks around at the now burned up remnants and debris of the village, he spots Avena talking with Rolfe, another Imperial officer. Her back is towards Cassian as she focuses on the datapad Rolfe’s currently showing her.

Cassian tightens his grip on the blaster at his side as he stares at her. Waves of anger rage within him. He glances around for something he can use to shield himself. Finding a large boulder nearby, he scans around him to ensure no one is paying attention to him as he makes his way over to it. He’s careful not to let his feet scrape against the gravel on the ground so as to not make a sound.

He kneels down behind the boulder and peeks his head out over the top of it, eyes resting on his target.

Firmly holding the blaster, he lifts his arm to lay it on top of the rock. He could take Avena out right now. Be rid of her threats against Jyn and her vengeance.

And he could take out Rolfe too so he wouldn’t know what he’d done.

_ What if I killed them now and then be done with it?   _

_ What if, what if, what if... _

His finger hovers over the trigger as he continues to watch Avena and Rolfe quietly talk.

But then he recalls Avena’s threat…

_ “If I die on this mission, I’ve ensured that Jyn will be killed.” _

Was it an empty threat? He wasn’t sure...and he certainly couldn’t risk it.

Slowly, he loosens his grip on the weapon and puts it in his holster that’s attached to his belt.

He leans his forehead up against the rock and closes his eyes.

He can’t take this anymore. Jyn needs to be freed.

Immediately.

Taking a deep breath, the gears in his mind turn as he begins to put together a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo we'll find out who was watching Cassian in the last chapter in a little while, but at least I eliminated Jyn as a possibility? :) 
> 
> Thanks for reading (as usual)! I was pretty tired while editing and proofreading this chapter. Apologies for any errors!


	11. Bittersweet and Strange

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized I totally forgot to mention in the last chapter that I of course had to throw in a dancing scene with Jyn/Cassian (I mean, it's so iconic in Beauty and the Beast! haha) but yeah, it had to be in a dream. I could not think of another way they could possibly be dancing at a labor camp, hah. :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Slowly, Jyn runs the brush across the shelf multiple times and ensures a thick coat of ivory paint is applied. The mundane chore reinforces the fact that she needs to get out of this labor camp. And soon.

Perhaps, she just needs to pull a similar move that Aston Metri and the other prisoner did...she could knock out a stormtrooper, take his weapon, and run off. But those two were only half successful, considering Aston’s friend was caught and killed.

She’d need to be a bit smarter in her escape. Maybe she could do something similar, but in a way where her escape wouldn’t cause much commotion. It would be better if they escaped undetected.

_ They. _

She and Cassian had not yet explicitly discussed escaping together...but she guesses it was implied? With their shared history, it seems likely. She needs to discuss it with him.

But first, he needs to return from whatever awful mission Avena forced him to do. She hopes he’s safe and that he hasn’t been injured.

And when he does return, before they discuss anything else, she would need to finally hear his explanation regarding Avena and learn if it has anything to do with her in any way. She’s fairly confident that she has something to do with it, especially considering she has to act like she despises him.

At the sound of pattering footsteps coming toward her, she pauses her painting and turns her head to look behind her. She’s shocked to find those footsteps belong to Cassian and nearly drops her brush.

He stops a short distance away from her with a sullen look on his face. She opens her mouth to speak, eager to bombard him with questions to get all the answers she wants. But when she sees Cassian glance at the other two nearby prisoners painting, she stops herself. She also remembers the stormtrooper who’s been keeping watch over her area so she scans their surroundings. When she looks toward the entryway, she finds the stormtrooper approaching her.

“Get back to work,” he orders her upon seeing that she has stopped painting.

Jyn hastily turns around to return to painting, but she stops when she hears Cassian speak.

Cassian clears his throat. “Officer Ludu has requested to speak with her. She needs to come with me.”

Hearing Avena’s order, the stormtrooper just nods his head and continues his walk to watch over the other prisoners to ensure they’re doing their tasks properly. But Jyn is left panicking over what Avena wants with her now. 

Putting down her brush, she looks to Cassian, who gestures with a nod towards the corridor to follow him. Jyn falls into step beside him as they walk.

As they stride down the hallway for a few minutes, she realizes they’re not heading to the building’s exit at all. “Where are we going?” she asks quietly.

“I’m looking for…” Cassian begins to whisper as he whips his head back and forth, seeming to search for something. “There it is,” he says as they turn the corner down another corridor. Then at the entryway to a room, he gently grabs her hand and leads her into it after another quick scan of their surroundings.

But Jyn discovers it’s not really a room at all. In the dim lighting, she sees it’s a nook that will likely become some sort of storage closet when the facility is completed. There’s so little space that there’s hardly enough room for both of their bodies. Jyn moves her body so she’s facing Cassian, and they’re so close they can feel each other’s breaths.

At Jyn’s puzzled look, Cassian abruptly lets go of her hand. “You’re back,” she states, not really knowing what else to say.

Cassian nods with a smile. “The order that Avena wants to talk to you was a lie. I wasn’t sure if the lie would work. But I...wanted to talk to you.”

Relief comes over Jyn over the fact that she doesn’t have to go see Avena. Their privacy now also gives Jyn the chance to ask for the answers she’s been waiting for. “Am I the reason you go along with her orders?” she asks bluntly.

Cassian stills, and a gloomy expression comes across his face. “Jyn, I…”

“Tell me,” she pleads. “You promised,” she adds softly.

Cassian takes a deep breath and runs his hand against the back of his neck as he looks at the ground for a moment. When he looks back up at her, he hesitantly reaches out to grab both of her hands. The contact sends a bit of jolt through her body. His gaze seems to suggest he’s wondering if it’s fine that he’s holding her hands. She reassures him with a gentle squeeze in return, but her body remains tense as she awaits what Cassian is about to tell her.

“You’re aware that Avena wants revenge for me murdering her brother. She wants to ensure you despise me by having me appear as an Imperial and committing horrible acts. And if I don’t go through with her orders for me...she’ll hurt you,” he says, and Jyn thinks she sees a slight shiver go through Cassian when he speaks. “When you were shot by that prisoner and I tried to help you, she denied you bacta patches. She made you watch me kill that prisoner, and if I didn’t shoot him, she threatened to shoot you in your other arm. When you were sent out in the forest with the beasts, it was because Avena knew I had given you bacta patches. She was punishing you for everything I had done for you, and she threatens to punish you every time I want to disobey her orders.”

Jyn removes her gaze from Cassian’s and instead looks down at their hands.

“What did she make you do the past few days?”

Cassian takes another deep breath. “She forced me to kill some rebel sympathizers,” he reluctantly whispers.

Jyn lets go of Cassian’s hands and folds her arms across her chest. “You’ve killed people...to protect me?” she wonders confusedly, still not looking up at him.

“Jyn, look at me,” Cassian pleads, gently and desperately. His tone causes Jyn to lift her head back up. “Avena knows that you’re...you’re important to me.”

“How could I be so important to you? You said I was just a comrade.”

“Jyn, you’re...” he begins, with the gaze of his brown eyes burrowing into hers. “...you’re all I have.”

She can tell he wants to reach for her hands again with the way his palms are outstretched between them. But she wraps her arms tighter around herself. She’s gotten answers...but somehow she still can’t comprehend all this.

“You didn’t have to go through with her orders. If she wanted to use me to force you to kill, you could’ve refused and just let me undergo her pain!” Jyn says angrily.

“But if she couldn’t use you to force me to do whatever she wanted, she would’ve ended up killing you!” Cassian heatedly replies.

She remains silent, but Jyn’s certain Cassian can hear the pounding of her heart in her chest.  

“If you were in my place,” Cassian calmly continues. “And you...cared about me, what would you have done?”

She doesn’t even need to imagine if she cared for him...because she knows she does. And if she was in his place and she remembered their history, would she have done the same and do anything to protect the only person that she cared about? When everyone else she’d ever cared for was dead?

How else could she have handled such a predicament?

She discovers that she probably would’ve done the same as Cassian.

After a pause, she replies in a soft voice. “I’m sorry. I...I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad.”  

Cassian’s lips nearly curl up to form a small grin. “I will not abandon you, and I’m going to make this up to you. I’m going to help get you out of here,” he tells her genuinely.

Bewildered, she tilts her head to the side as she looks up at him.

Cassian opens his mouth to explain in further detail, but the sound of footsteps stops him and causes his stare to shift to the entryway. He briefly peeks his head outside the nook before turning back to Jyn.

“We have to go,” he says. “It sounds like someone is coming this way. I’ll take you back to your station.”

Jyn nods in agreement before following him out into the corridor. He leads her in the opposite direction of the nearing footsteps.

“I’ll find you again sometime later to discuss an escape plan,” he murmurs to her before they reach the area where she had been painting.

Jyn nods once more, before leaving his side to pick up her paintbrush and return to her task. She tries to digest everything he’s told her today. She still can’t wrap her mind around all that he’s done and all that he’s suffered...for her. That someone cared enough about her to do all that for her. It’s a bittersweet feeling.

Overwhelmed, she tries not to dwell on these thoughts as she paints.

* * *

 

After speaking with Jyn the day before, Cassian had hoped to talk to her at dinner that evening. But when he arrived in the cafeteria, he not only spotted Jyn, but also both Avena and Rolfe. It wasn’t safe to talk to her with them nearby, let alone discuss a way to escape. 

He had shared a brief glance with Jyn, then gave pointed look at the turned backs of Avena and Rolfe in the room, hoping Jyn would understand why he wouldn’t be sitting with her. And it seemed she did, as she given him a nod in return then returned to eating her food.

She had looked somewhat distressed when she first caught his glance.

He couldn’t blame her. He had just told her that day of how he’d gone through with Avena’s cruel demands in order to protect her. She’s probably wary of him now, knowing that he’s a monster.

Their close proximity to one another yesterday was reminiscent of their closeness in the elevator on Scarif, and he found himself wanting again to kiss her. But he reminded himself that while he may have feelings for her and wish for something more than friendship with her, she doesn’t feel the same for him. Who could? But at least she knows that she’s important to him and that’s she’s not alone. When he heard her say “I’m not used to people sticking around when things go bad,” he’d nearly smiled brightly at the memory of her saying those words to him back on Yavin IV.

_ She’s definitely still the same Jyn. _

Now, he needs to focus on getting to talk to her again about a possible escape plan. He hopes he’ll be able to see her soon while at the facility to oversee prisoners completing painting tasks. He arrived with a small group of prisoners earlier that morning, but more are expected to arrive soon via turbo-tank.

He can only pray that Jyn will be coming with the second group. Then perhaps, he’d be able to find an opportunity to steal her away to talk….

At that moment, he hears the rumble of the tank coming from outside. He makes his way to the front entrance of the facility and finds the tank screeching to a stop. Other Imperial officers approach it to monitor the prisoners disembarking.

Among those exiting the tank, he sees no sign of Avena and Rolfe. They hadn’t come with the group he arrived with earlier that day. He still doesn’t know if Avena has informed any of the other Imperial workers of who he really is, but considering many of them have treated him respectfully, he assumes they don’t all know.

But he does manage to spot the face of the one he is hoping to see. After she jumps off the tank to the ground, her green eyes find him immediately.

Somehow, seeing her never fails to make his breath hitch.

She’s among the crowd of prisoners making their way to the entrance, and Cassian quickly tries to think of a place where they could slip away discreetly.

She doesn’t break eye contact as she approaches, and as she nears him, Cassian reaches out to grab her upper arm and gently pull her out of the crowd. “You’re needed to do some light painting on the exterior,” he lies and attempts to make it sound like a convincing order to those around them as he says it.

With her beside him now, he places his hand on her back in between her shoulder blades to guide her toward the corner of the building. As they briskly walk away along the wall of the building, no one questions Cassian’s order at all, nor seems to be watching them.

They follow along the long length of the building in silence. Once they finally reach the corner, they turn around it, and Cassian slides his hand down to her lower back and then to her waist to tug her close and bring her body up against the wall so she’s now facing him.

When he realizes that her body has tensed a little from the contact, he instantly pulls his hand away as if he’s been burned.  “I’m sorry,” he tells her quietly. 

“No, it’s fine,” she replies kindly, but sounding a little unsure.. “It’s…” she trails off.

“What is it?” he asks, concerned.

“When you were gone, I had a strange dream...and it reminded me of that.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It was just a lot of jumbled up memories...well things you told me, like Death Star plans, Krennic, Avena,” she pauses. “And then you and I were dancing in a ballroom,” she adds as a slight blush creeps over her face.

“Dancing?” The thought makes him smile, yet fills him with sadness. Dancing with Jyn sounds like too much of a luxury for it to ever truly occur in their life that’s filled with war and death.

Jyn nods and seems to have a similar train of thought as him when she sadly says, “If only things were different.”

If only they lived in a galaxy where he didn’t have to use every bit of his energy and then some in trying to destroy an empire. One where he didn’t have to murder people. One where he wasn’t a monster.

Cassian nods, then pushes the daydream of dancing with Jyn out of his mind. “Right now, we need to focus on getting you out here,” he says in a hushed tone. “There’s another hangar not far from here where the Imperials keep two older ships as backup. It didn’t seem like they have anyone guarding it. Only the group of us on the mission were at the facility attached to it.”

“Where’s it located?” Jyn asks with a quizzical expression.

“It’s in a wooded area near the forest where we were attacked by the beasts.” Searching for an area of mud on the ground, Cassian spots one not too far from their feet. He kneels low beside it, and Jyn follows suit.

With his forefinger, he draws some triangular shapes in the mud to represent the trees of the forest and a square to represent the hangar. “The forest is over here, and the hangar is there,” he says as he gestures to the map he’s drawn. “The next time we have to work in the fields, we could escape through the forest, get to these ships, and fly off this planet.”

Jyn looks thoughtfully at him. “We’d definitely would need weapons with us to defend us from the beasts in the forest. And would we just attempt to discreetly make our way to the forest?”

“I’m not sure yet. I wanted to see what you think.”

Her face brightens a bit as he says it, and they both return to standing against the wall of the building. Cassian uses the bottom edge of his Imperial uniform to clean off the mud on his finger.

“I think we should do what Aston - that runaway prisoner - did, except...better,” she states with a slight grin. “We should knock out two stormtroopers in a spot where no else can see, then put on their armor and take their weapons. Then it wouldn’t be so unusual if we were two stormtroopers heading to the forest...as long as Avena isn’t there.”

Cassian nods in agreement with her ideas. “And we could use a rock or whatever farm tools there are that day to hit them in the head with.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“Let’s think it through on our own and see if we’re forgetting anything,” he tells her. “But I think it’s a good plan, too.” 

He can see the glimmer of hope shine in her eyes and can’t help but let that hope swell within him too that they’ll finally soon both be out of this mess. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's kind of a miracle this got posted today?? If you live in the US, you've probably heard about the hurricane/storm which hit Texas...well, that's where I live! Luckily, it's not too bad in my area...still got power and no major flooding (so far)! But all this craziness may delay the next chapter, and I hope you can forgive me! <3


	12. I Let Her Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a brief personal life update since I know some of you were concerned last chapter: I am totally fine post-hurricane! I was very lucky...but now just working on helping our city rebuild! I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter, but to make up for that, here's the longest chapter yet! So I hope you enjoy :)

_Where would we go?_

Ever since Cassian talked to her about an escape plan, the question has plagued Jyn’s mind. Because if they fortunately are able to escape...where would they go? What next?

She assumes Cassian would go back to the Rebel Alliance and continue to fight for their cause. But what about her?

While she may have helped the Alliance in stealing the Death Star plans, she has no memory of it and doesn’t have much of a desire to jump into the fight. For so long, it had just been her looking after herself, caring only about surviving each day on her own. All the war had ever brought her was pain. Why would she want to jump in the fray?

_But what about Cassian?_ some part of her wonders.

_If only things were different_ , she once again reminds herself for the umpteenth time. They’d probably go their separate ways if they get out of this camp, and if they ever crossed paths again, then they’d be acquaintances on good terms who were willing to help each other. He’d be an ally, a friend. Nothing more.

And yet, that thought saddens her.

Jyn reaches up to feel her necklace resting beneath her shirt as she lays in her bed, wishing she could receive guidance from her departed mother.

_Where would I go?_

Perhaps she needs to go a place that she remembers and a place that at least has some pleasant memories...like Lah’mu.

While Lah’mu is the planet where her mother died and where her father was taken away from her, it remains the only planet where they all lived as a family away from the clutches of the Empire. She could go there to honor her mother and father. After so many years of bitterness growing toward her father, she could go to Lah’mu to remember him more fondly and make peace with him, now knowing about their final meeting based on what Cassian told her.

It’d been the only place she probably ever considered a home. There, she could evaluate what to do and where to go next.

* * *

 

Over the course of the next few day, Cassian ensures his conversations with Jyn are brief and limited.l Sometimes he speaks to her in a quick exchange of whispers as she works or sits beside her during meals in the cafeteria for only a minute or two, but only if Avena and Rolfe aren’t around. No one can suspect that they’re conspiring to escape.

Their short chats are focused on the details of their escape, bringing up concerns and additional ideas they have for their loose plan, such as which two stormtroopers should they steal the armor of (which they determine should be the one who’s keeping watch over Jyn’s area in hopes of them having more time before it's discovered they’re gone while the other can be the one who typically watches over the turbo tank that transports the prisoners), ways they can lure these stormtroopers to the turbo tank so they can knock them out out of view from everyone else, excuses they could tell others for why they need to go into the forest, and how they should enact their plan shortly after they arrive at the field in the hopes that it will give them more time before anyone notices their escape.

And then when they finally believe they have all the kinks worked out, all that’s left for them to do is wait for the day they’re both sent to the fields again. They only find out the prisoners’ tasks the day of, leaving Jyn and Cassian to live in suspense of when they’d be able to go through with their plan.

And with each passing day, Cassian’s nerves begin to get to him.

_If this doesn’t work, and Avena finds out what we tried to do…_

He shudders to think what she’ll do to Jyn.

_The plan has to work. It must work._

He replays the plan over and over in his head, hoping there isn’t some detail that he’s missing.

However, he needs to be ready for anything to go wrong. Just like on his missions for the Rebel Alliance, he had to be prepared to modify his plans whenever something went awry. Normally, he’s able to remain calm for such things. However, since Jyn’s safety is involved...it’s harder for him to maintain composure.

All that matters to him is getting Jyn off this planet, and he’ll do anything to ensure that happens.

* * *

 

Nearly a week and a half since Cassian and Jyn first discussed a general escape plan, Cassian wakes up to hear the news they’ve been waiting for: they’ll be farming out in the field.

The news is exhilarating, yet terrifying for him.

He’s first transferred with a group of other Imperial officers and stormtroopers by landspeeder out into the fields where the prisoners have been assigned to plant various fruits. There, they wait for the prisoners to arrive via turbo-tank as Cassian tries to suppress his nerves and treat this mission like any of his other missions.

Avena didn’t come with them, giving Cassian a glimmer of hope that they’ll be able to successfully follow through with their plan.

Hearing a thunderous sound, Cassian lifts his head to see the turbo-tank making its way toward them through the morning mist. His heart begins to race as it gets closer and closer. When it rolls to a stop in front of them with a shrill screech, his heart feels like it’s going to burst from his chest.

Scanning through the prisoners disembarking the tank, he searches for Jyn. She ends up being one of the last ones off the tank, and their eyes immediately lock with each other’s. Cassian is trying to give her a glance that tells her it’s time to breakout, expecting to see confirmation in her green eyes. Instead, he sees alarm in her eyes, which makes him anxious.

Shortly after she jumps down from the tank to the ground, Cassian finds that Rolfe is behind her.

_Shit._

Could they still go through with their scheme with Avena’s right-hand man nearby? Cassian nearly lets out a groan of frustration before heading over to a nearby hut that serves as a supply shed so he can help distribute the tools to the prisoners.  

The prisoners first go to another officer to find out what area they’ve been assigned to, then walk over to their area. Cassian keeps an eye on Jyn, waiting to see which part of the field she’s being stationed at. Once he sees her heading to opposite end of the field from where he’s standing, he grabs a few large shovels from the hut to bring over to her area and pass out among the other prisoners near her.

He hands out shovels to three prisoners before he gets to her. She watches him with a concerned look as he approaches her. When he reaches her, she speaks to him in a low voice.

“Rolfe is here,” she says. “What should we do?”

“I don’t think we can risk it with him here,” Cassian replies, dejected.

“Maybe he won’t stay long...and then we can still go through with it,” Jyn whispers, glancing behind Cassian as she does so. “He’s watching us now. Don’t be offended by what I’m about to do.”

Cassian doesn’t even have time to wonder what she means when she suddenly rips the large shovel out of his grasp. It was so forceful that he almost loses his balance. “Stay away from me,” she tells him loudly and sternly.

Cassian whips around to return to the tool station, while wearing a mask of sorrow to convince Rolfe that he’s upset by Jyn’s words.

But it isn’t a total mask, considering he’s dissatisfied that they can’t go through with their plan.

Now he can only hope that Rolfe will return to the main camp. And soon.

* * *

 

When she’d heard that morning that farming was the task for the day, Jyn had been filled with hope and excitement and a slight bit of trepidation.

But all of that hope and excitement diminished when she saw Rolfe on board her tank out into the fields. Because who knew when they would next do farming again? She wasn’t sure how much longer she could wait to escape...especially now knowing that she’s being used to make Cassian kill people.

She’s not ready to let go of this hope. Perhaps, Rolfe won’t stay the whole day. Maybe he’d only be around for a short time.

She’s felt Rolfe’s gaze upon her many times this morning, and it makes her even more nervous that somehow he knows what they’re planning or what they’re going to try to do. Or maybe, he’s watching her the same amount he usually does when he’s around and she simply is more aware of it today.

For now, she could only pray Rolfe would soon leave and continue along with her task of digging up holes in the ground.

And wait.

* * *

 

It’s nearly two hours after their arrival that Jyn notices Rolfe leave the area by landspeeder.

The hope is back. She just needs to find Cassian to see if he’s ready to go through with the plan. Scanning the area, she finds him on the opposite end of the field behind a few rows of bushes. There is much distance between them, but she can tell he’s staring back at her. Then he takes his gaze off of her, and she sees him heading to the hut containing supplies.

She resumes her job of pulling out weeds and planting some fruit trees, knowing that Cassian will likely come to her.

Minutes later, she finds she’s correct in her assumption when she sees his shadow on the ground near her appear. She looks up at him and finds him holding out a small shovel for her to take.

“Do we go through with it?” she whispers.

“If you still want to?” he replies.

She firmly nods then gives a small smile as she takes the small shovel from him. He also nods in confirmation back and gives her a hesitant smile in return before turning and walking away from her.

And so their plan now begins.

Cassian should be heading over to the turbo-tank she arrived on, where he’ll knock out the stormtrooper guarding the tank and take his armor.

Jyn glances around her to check for the stormtrooper assigned to her and the other prisoners near her. He’s currently occupied with assisting a prisoner with her malfunctioning power shovel. Jyn kneels down to the ground, where a hole she dug is before her. Unclipping her canteen that’s attached to her waist, she tosses it in the hole. Then, she takes the small shovel Cassian had just given her and jabs at the bottom of her canteen until a small hole is formed. The water within the canteen immediately spills out onto the dirt.

She looks back to the stormtrooper and sees he’s finishing up with helping the other prisoner. Jyn quickly grabs her canteen and hooks it back to the belt at her waist. Standing up, she tosses the small shovel to the side and picks up the large shovel. Looking toward the turbo-tank and around the field, she sees no sign of Cassian and assumes he must’ve gone inside the tank.

She begins to dig and make the hole in the ground bigger as she waits for her area’s stormtrooper to approach her. When he finally does, he moves to pass by her after simply checking to make sure she’s still working. But Jyn pauses her shovelling and calls out to him. “Excuse me.”

The stormtrooper stops and turns to her.

“My canteen has sprung a leak. I need a new one.” Jyn drops her large shovel to the ground, then unclips her empty canteen to show the trooper.

The stormtrooper takes it from her and inspects it carefully. “I will get you a new one from the tank. Keep working.”

When he leaves to head toward the tank, Jyn picks up her small shovel and follows behind him at a distance, stepping quietly and slowly and hoping none of the other Imperials or prisoners notice her. As they trudge through the grass and the dirt and weave through the various bushes and newly-planted crops, she crouches down every so often to avoid being seen. Jyn can only hope Cassian was able to take care of the stormtrooper that guards the tank so they can now take care of the one she’s following.

When the stormtrooper arrives at the back of the tank, he slides the door open and hops inside. As Jyn approaches, she’s shocked to see Cassian come around the edge of the tank holding a small shovel as well. He then follows the trooper insider the tank.

_He was already supposed to be inside the tank…_

Jyn quickens her pace and jumps into the tank too, in time to see Cassian rip off the trooper’s helmet from behind and whack him across the back of his head with his shovel, causing the stormtrooper to collapse to the ground.

At the sound of her entering the tank, Cassian whips around, looking fearful, but is relieved to see it’s Jyn. Jyn pulls the tank’s door closed behind her.

“What happened? Where’s the trooper who guards the tank?” Jyn asks in a low voice, feeling anxious.

“There wasn’t one. I don’t know why,” Cassian answers with a hint of anger and frustration in his voice. He yanks on the arms of the fallen stormtrooper to drag him further into the tank and off to the side. Both Jyn and Cassian kneel down beside the stormtrooper and begin removing all of his armor.

“Start putting this on,” Cassian says as he gestures to the armor they’re holding. Jyn begins doing as he says.

“How are we going to get a second stormtrooper’s armor?” she asks.

“Still thinking,” Cassian replies as he helps Jyn with her armor. As soon as all of her body armor is on, she picks up the fallen stormtrooper’s blaster as well as his helmet.

At the rumble of the door to the tank opening, Jyn quickly puts the helmet over her head, while Cassian steps in front of the stormtrooper’s body in an attempt to hide him from view.

The now open door reveals another stormtrooper entering the tank. “What is going on here?” he questions with an edge to his voice. “I saw one of the prisoners come back here.” He takes a slow, careful glance around the tank.

Swiftly, Jyn charges after him and whacks him against the head with the barrel of the blaster before he can even think to react. She shoves him to the ground. When he seems like he’s going to attempt to get up, Cassian rushes forward to fall on top of his body to keep him pinned down. Jyn tugs off of his helmet, then hits his head with her blaster once more, finally knocking him out.

Taking deep breaths, she drops the blaster and pulls the helmet off of her head, while Cassian sits up on the ground.

“Well, it looks like luck is on our side today,” Jyn comments with a small smile as she sits on the ground beside the stormtrooper. “Let’s get his armor on you.”

Cassian hesitantly smiles back before removing the stormtrooper’s armor.

However, it’s when they begin pulling off the armor on his arms when they hear another voice that causes them to freeze. “Attention officers: Officer Urich is coming to pick up Andor to bring him back to the main camp. Officer Ludu needs to see him immediately.”

Cassian fumbles through the pouches attached to the stormtrooper’s belt and finds a comlink.

“Attention officers: Officer Urich is coming to pick up Andor to bring him back to the main camp. Officer Ludu needs to see him immediately,” the message repeats through the comlink.

Jyn and Cassian look up at each other, panic evident in their eyes. “If we go, they’ll quickly find out we’ve run off and could come after us,” Cassian speaks aloud what she’s already figured out.

That’s the end of this. Their plan has come to a screeching halt. There will be no escaping today, Jyn realizes.

“But if you still go, there’s still a chance for you to get out of here.”

Jyn’s eyes widen. “What?”

Cassian leans toward Jyn and places his hands along the sides of her face. “Listen to me. I will go to Avena, but you can still go ahead with the plan. We’ll get off this tank, show them I’m ready to go back to the main camp, and I’ll explain that you’re going into forest because we thought we heard some creatures approaching the edge of the forest. It can still work.”

Jyn shakes her head back and forth. “I can’t just leave you here.”

“Think about it, Jyn...if you’re not here, Avena will have nothing to hold over me to force me to kill. Just go,” Cassian pleads. “I’ll be able to find a way to escape eventually and without the threat of her hurting you,” he adds.

She doesn’t want to escape without him, but escaping with him no longer seems to be an option.. her escaping alone is probably the second-best solution though, considering she’d no longer be used in Avena’s threats to Cassian.

She feels some tears sting her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall as she reluctantly nods. “Okay.”

“Do you remember where the ships are in relation to the forest?” he asks.

Jyn nods.

“Okay. Just get off this planet as soon as you can. Do not wait for me,” he instructs her.

Reluctantly, she nods. His hands are still resting against her face, and his thumbs are stroking her cheeks. She sees his gaze fall to her lips for a moment, and she finds herself leaning further into him.

Abruptly, Cassian pulls away, removing his hands from her face. “We need to hurry,” he tells her as he gets on his hands and knees, feeling around the floor for a latch. He yanks on it, lifting open the door to the storage area of the tank.

Cassian stands up, then proceeds to grab the legs of the second stormtrooper who arrived to the tank and drags him over to the opening and pushes his body into the storage section. Jyn stands up, goes over to the one she stole the armor of and does the same.

Slamming the storage door closed, Cassian then leans down to pick up the helmet that Jyn had taken off a little bit ago and hands it to her.

“Remember to let me do the talking,” he reminds her because a female’s voice can’t be heard coming from a male stormtrooper. He picks up his own Imperial hat off the floor that had fallen off during the scuffle and places it on his head.

She’s at a loss for words. Should they be saying goodbye to each other right now? What should she even say?

Finding nothing to say, she lifts up her helmet and places it over her head.

“Ready?” he says to her.

“Yes,” she tells him loud enough so he can hear her through the mask.

He grabs her now armored-covered hand and gently squeezes it.

It does nothing to soothe her, as she can’t feel his warmth. It just leaves her wishing she could hold his hand once more without this armor serving as a barrier.

Cassian lets go of her, then slides the tank door open. He jumps down from the tank and waits for her to jump down behind him.

As soon as she does so, Cassian begins leading her over to an Imperial officer at the nearest area of prisoners working.

“I wasn’t sure where you went, Officer Andor,” the officer remarks, looking relieved to see him. “Officer Ludu needs to see you immediately. Officer Ulrich is almost here to take you to her.”

“Thank you, Officer Eter. TK-1215 here informed me,” he says as he gestures to her. “We thought we saw a beast nearing the edge of the forest. We went to the tank to retrieve better blasters. TK-1215 is still going to investigate it and make sure no beast comes charging out of the forest.”

Officer Eter nods. “I’ll send another stormtrooper to go with you.”

Jyn’s heart races, wondering how she’ll be able to get out of this. Luckily, this helmet masks the apprehension that is surely showing on her face. Cassian still looks calm and is opening his mouth to speak, but it appears he can’t figure out what to say.

“TK-1107, please report to Officer Eter,” Officer Eter speaks into his comlink.

And right after he does so, a landspeeder driven by an Imperial officer that she can only assume is Officer Ulrich pulls up into the field a short distance away.

Officer Eter bids Cassian goodbye, gesturing for him to go over to the newly arrived ship.

With one last glance at her before he walks away, she can see the fear, but also the hope in his eyes.

She wishes he could see the torment in hers over leaving him here.

But now there’s another obstacle with this other stormtrooper coming with her. She can’t let Cassian’s torture continue. She needs to find her way out.

* * *

 

“I happened to notice that you didn’t mention that Andor is in your possession. If Vader and the Emperor knew, they might be able to use him to lure out a Rebel leader. Plus, we’re fairly certain that he and that Jyn girl were the ones responsible for getting the Death Star plans to the rebels. Shouldn’t they know of this?” Rolfe asks Avena, while reading through her quarterly report about the status of the camp and the new facility on a datapad.

Sitting across the table from him, Avena gives him a stern, unpleased look. “If I tell them, they’ll take them away from me, use them, then dispose of them when they no longer serve them a purpose. Where is the joy for me in that? I deserve to get my revenge. I will not let them take that away from me.”

“Haven’t you had enough fun with torturing them?”

Avena’s gaze turns into a full-on glare. “HE KILLED MY BROTHER, ROLFE!” she yells at him.

“I am aware,” he answers calmly. “I just fear that your need for vengeance has taken precedence over serving the Empire.”

“I am having the prisoners of this camp build a damned facility for the Empire to research and develop new superweapons. I think my allegiance is clear,” she remarks seriously.

Rolfe sighs, but says nothing else.

“Please continue making sure that no one else knows that Andor isn’t really an Imperial officer, as well as keeping an eye on him and the girl,” Avena states while scanning over her own datapad. “And be thinking about how we should handle what we discussed earlier regarding the rebels.”

Rolfe nods.

“You sent Ulrich to retrieve Andor, yes?”

Rolfe nods again. “They should be here any moment.”

“Good.”

* * *

 

_She couldn’t possibly know what we were planning...could she?_

The thought agonizes him, but his worry for Jyn also gnaws at him. He hopes she’ll come up with some way to lose the other stormtrooper assigned to search the forest with her and that she’ll be able to get out of here.

It doesn’t matter that he couldn’t run away with her. All that matters is that she’s no longer endangered by being used against him.

_After all, I’m a murderer. I am not worth saving._

He had to let her go…

Because he loves her, he admits to himself.

Her memories of him may not all be intact, but she’s still the same woman he had grown enamored with when she fought so passionately and fiercely with the rebel leaders to convince them to destroy the Death Star, inspiring him to take action, and when she boldly and courageously went to Scarif and nearly sacrificed her life to transmit the Death Star plans.

And now he’s left wondering...when would they see each other again? Who knew _if_ they’d see each other again?

Sure, it would’ve been ideal for them to leave together...but maybe it’s better this way because he wouldn’t have to face her inevitable rejection of him. As he told himself before, who could ever learn to love a monster?

And as she had said to him, “If only things were different.”

He’d almost kissed her today, almost gave into the pull that he feels between them. But he held back again...he doesn’t deserve her. He needs to let go of such delusions that he could ever be with her.

Having been escorted back to the main camp, Cassian now makes his way to see Avena alongside Officer Ulrich. When they arrive at a small room that contains a large, strange looking contraption, Avena sends Ulrich away, but commands Cassian to come in.

Giving him a suspicious-looking smile, Avena strolls over to the large contraption that has various wires and pointed needles sticking out of it. Cassian realizes it must be some sort of torture chair when he sees the armrests and legrests have looped bands to strap someone on it.

“Look what was just completed today, Andor,” she says gleefully and gestures to the chair.

Cassian resists showing any reaction, even though he’s frightened about what this meeting is about and why she’s showing him this. He swallows out of nervousness. “A torture chair?” he questions, trying to sound disinterested.

Avena nods happily as she slowly walks around the chair. “On your last mission, I could tell you were deliberately not fatally shooting some of the rebel sympathizers. You and I both know you have fine aim, Andor. After all, you managed to shoot and kill my brother from afar.”

Images of Ry Ludu’s face appear in his mind. Cassian could see the happy expression Ry had before his blast hit him in the chest...then sees the image of his old friend wounded with his face frozen in surprise.

Cassian says nothing.

“So I figured you would need some... _encouragement_ in sticking to my orders.There are rumors that a group of rebels are coming toward this camp. Tomorrow, we’ll head out in search of them, and if we find them, I expect you to shoot and kill them on sight. If you pretend to miss them, I will put Jyn in this chair and will force you to watch as she trembles and twitches and is driven to madness. And then you’ll always remember that you were the one who caused it.”

Visualizing such a thing happening is too much for Cassian to handle. He can’t hide his distress. A shudder goes through his body, yet he also feels a murderous rage ripple through him.

_Jyn better have escaped…and then I can kill Avena and put an end to this._

But until he knows that Jyn has escaped, he will do nothing.

“Is that clear?” Avena asks.

Cassian solemnly nods and prays that Jyn has managed to get out of this camp so he will not even need to worry about her having to deal with this torture device.

* * *

 

As Jyn heads into the forest alongside TK-1107, her mind races through possibilities over how to get rid of him and bolt through the forest.

If she shot him, the blast might be heard by the other Imperial officers and stormtroopers. Would they then expect her and TK-1107 to return to the field shortly after, thinking they killed the beast? Or would they come running into the forest, searching for them, thinking they’d need assistance in killing the beasts?

She could knock him out with her blaster just like the stormtrooper on the tank. She’d have to make sure he goes down quick so no screams are heard and so he doesn’t attempt to use his comlink to reach the Imperials.

But once they’re missing for a while...the other officers and stormtroopers will surely come searching for them. Then when they find TK-1107 and he wakes up, he could reveal that Jyn was the one who hit him. Perhaps, she’d be able to hit him from behind and make him think he’s been attacked by a creature instead of her?

She also has to worry about TK-1107 waking up, then running back to the field, and reporting that she’s gone missing.

Whatever she decides to do...all the outcomes seem to point to the Imperials will end up coming to search for “TK-1215”  if she doesn’t return. She needs to figure out a way to allow her the most time to get through the forest without them close behind her.

But she needs to hurry and be rid of this other stormtrooper so she can get going. At the end of the shift, the Imperials will surely know that she’s missing. And when they’re bringing the prisoners on the tank, they’ll probably discover the unconscious stormtroopers.

Perhaps, there’s a way she could make them think she was dead if they decided to come searching for her.

But how?

As they trudge through the the plethora of fallen branches, rocks, and leaves and slowly weave through the trees, TK-1107 carefully scans the area for any beasts, while Jyn examines the area and tries to recall what she saw during her previous visit to the woods.

She can tell they’re nearing the clearing with the stream where she had filled her canteen and the beasts attacked.

“Looks like that beast you heard nearing the field must have run back into the forest. We should probably head back,” TK-1107 says, and Jyn realizes she needs to act now.

After he turns around to start heading back, Jyn stands still to give him a moment to start walking away. Staring at his back, she lifts up her blaster and prepares to use it to whack him.

But before she can begin rushing forward to hit him, she hears him let out a shout. “Watch out!”

A gray-furred beast, just like the ones she encountered the last time she was here, comes barrelling through the trees from behind some bushes and heads straight towards them. With a growl, it lunges at TK-1107, easily knocking him to the ground. He fumbles for his blaster and holds it up to point it at the beast, but when he shoots, he completely misses the beast as it grabs hold of his arm. The creature tugs on it, twisting it back and forth. TK-1107 drops the blaster as he yelps in pain. The beast punctures through the armor and drops the stormtrooper’s now bleeding arm to pounce on top of his chest instead, knocking the breath out of him.

Jyn lifts up her blaster, aiming it at the beast as it bends its head to begin chomping down on the stormtrooper’s helmet with its sharp teeth, attempting to tear it off his head. TK-1107 is no longer screaming, and Jyn can’t tell if he’s simply passed out or if he’s no longer alive.

She shoots the beast in the chest, sending it howling in pain as it collapses on top of the stormtrooper, and its breathing slows.

The shots of their blasters and TK-1107’s screams may have been heard out in the field. Jyn realizes she needs to get out of here quickly...yet she still wonders if there’s any way she can somehow deter them from searching for her for a little bit longer…

While looking at the blood on TK-1107 and the beast, who’s laboured breaths seem to be coming to a stop, an idea sparks in Jyn’s mind.

_It might be stupid, but it’s worth a shot..._

Quickly, she goes up to their bodies and sticks her armored hand into the puddles of their blood beside them. Then she proceeds to run as fast as she can further into the forest, following the same route she’d taken weeks before.

As she goes, still carrying her blaster with her clean arm, she begins using her bloodied hand to smear the blood on her helmet and on the armor covering her chest and her arms. As she continues to speed through the trees, avoiding the boulders that come across her path, she comes to the clearing with the stream. Once it’s in sight, she tears the stormtrooper helmet off of her head, then tosses it to the ground beside the edge of the flowing water. Placing her blaster on the ground for a moment, she then begins to hurriedly take off all of the armor.

Once her upper body armor is off of her, she throws some of the pieces of armor into the water so it floats along the stream.

Maybe they’ll think she was also injured by the beast when they see the bloodied armor. Maybe they’ll think she’s passed out unconscious somewhere. Maybe they’ll think she’s drowned. Who knows what they’ll think, but at least they’ll most likely stop and spend time wondering where “TK-1215” has gone.

And so she dashes off further into the woods, with the hope she’ll be able to find the ships Cassian told her about. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited this chapter while I was tired, so apologies if I didn't catch all the errors! :)
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed! Belle's the only one who ran away in Beauty and the Beast sooo you know, only Jyn could run away! POOR CASSIAN :'( I'm sorry I thwarted their plans.


	13. Through the Mist, Through the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always for reading! :)

Jyn swiftly navigates her way through the woods, pushing branches out of her way and trying to avoid brushing up against any bushes so she doesn’t make a sound. She hopes she’s going in the right direction to find the hangar that Cassian told her about.

_Cassian…_

Was leaving him really the best choice? She knows this way, he at least wouldn’t be tortured to protect her anymore...but he’s still in Avena’s clutches. Her deranged mind could come up with other ways to make him suffer.

They should’ve still figured out a way to escape together...

He told her to leave this planet without him...In following his orders, who knows when and if she would ever see him again?

And how would she even know when he gets off this planet?

She should’ve told him of her plans to go to Lah’mu. Maybe they could’ve met there and figured out what to do next together _._ But now, she’ll have to live in wonder if Cassian ever escapes. Or maybe, she could find help in retrieving him. She has no clue where the rebels would be, but she could try to find them. Surely, they’d find him worthy of rescuing?

But that could take too much time. Maybe once she gets a ship and weapons to attack the labor camp’s Imperials, she could rescue him herself. He told her to not wait for him. Well, she wouldn’t. She could hurry to take action and get him instead.

However, leaving him now, she’s still unsettled...

With her amnesia, Cassian could’ve easily forgotten about her and left her behind. But he made the effort to talk to her and explain who he was and come up with a plan for her to escape. He endured so many horrible tasks to protect her.

Her whole life, she’s been abandoned by those around her, leaving her hurt and confused and feeling betrayed. Yet, here she was, abandoning the one person who’s never abandoned her and who’s put her safety and protection above his own.

Could she really leave him behind?

The sound of rustling leaves suddenly pulls her from her thoughts, startling her. In a panic, she ducks down behind a nearby boulder.

The sound didn’t seem to be coming from behind her, where she’d expect Imperials to be coming after her. Maybe it’s another beast?

With her blaster firmly in her grasp, she slowly slides her arm across the top of the boulder, ready to fire. She then hesitantly peeks her head out above the boulder to further investigate.

Everything is still. Nothing seems suspicious.

So she waits and continues to watch.

And she quickly grows impatient.

She _knows_ she heard something. She didn’t nearly jump out of her skin over something imagined. She needs to hurry and get out of here. She can’t waste time waiting for whatever is lurking nearby. It’s risky, but Jyn rather figure out what or who it is quickly and deal with it so she can continue her way to the hangar.

Still holding out the blaster with both hands and pointing it away from her, she stands up and keeps looking all around her, searching for any sign of movement.

She starts striding forward, periodically pausing to hide herself behind a tree trunk or crouching low behind boulders and bushes, checking to make sure it’s all clear before moving along to the next spot.

It’s when she begins heading towards another tree to take cover behind that she hears a voice speak.

“Well, if it isn’t mystery woman.”

Jyn freezes in her tracks, then turns to her left to find a familiar face staring back at her.

“Aston Metri?”

_What is he doing here?_ He escaped weeks ago...he should’ve been long gone by now…

“I’m flattered you remember me. I must have left quite an impression on you,” he says with a cheeky smile as he crosses his arms across his chest and leans smugly back against a tree.

Jyn jumps back when she sees a tan-skinned woman with dark hair tied back in a bun come out from behind the tree next to his. She rolls her eyes at him. “Well it’s probably hard to forget a man whose ego is too big for his head,” the woman remarks.

Aston just continues to smirk, while the woman turns to stare at Jyn. Three men come up from behind the trees at her back, holding up their blasters. Jyn, now feeling defensive, shifts her body so she’s pointing her blaster back at them.

“Relax. She was a prisoner at the labor camp,” Aston tells them, leading them to hesitantly put down their weapons. “What are you doing here?” he looks at Jyn and asks.

Jyn still doesn’t put down her blaster. Could she trust him? “I could ask you the same thing.”

Aston looks as if he’s debating how he should reply, while one of the other men with blonde hair starts staring at her curiously. He slowly approaches her while carefully analyzing her face. “What’s your name?” he asks her curiously.

“Jyn,” she reluctantly replies.

The man’s eyes widen. “Jyn Erso?”

Jyn isn’t sure how he knows her name and is almost fearful to respond. Slowly, she nods her head in confirmation.

“The one who led a team to Scarif to steal the Death Star plans?” he adds, causing all of the others to still at his words and stare intently at Jyn. Once again, Jyn slowly nods while having her blaster aimed at the blonde one.

Not that she doubted Cassian’s words, but at least she has confirmation that it was true when he said they had helped steal the plans.

“I thought you looked familiar. I saw you on Yavin 4,” he explains, while looking in awe at her. “The rebel leaders thought you were dead.”

_Yavin 4...where Cassian said I tried to convince the rebel leaders to get the Death Star plans on Scarif..._

“Well, we all thought Cassian Andor was dead too until Aston saw him at the labor camp,” the woman pipes in.

Jyn’s ears perk up at the mention of Cassian.

“How did you get off of Scarif?” one of the dark-haired men asks.

“Got on an Imperial ship that made it off the planet before it was destroyed and was brought to this camp,” Jyn says simply. “So are you part of the Rebel Alliance?” she questions him.

He nods back, and Aston pipes in. “We all are.”

Jyn’s eyes shift back to Aston’s. “What are you doing here?”

The group of rebels all turn their heads to look at Aston, who remains silent.

“She could help us. She’s already given the Alliance’s first big victory in getting the Death Star plans. She’s one of us,” the blonde one whispers to Aston.

Aston eyes her carefully. “When I talked to you at the camp, I certainly didn’t expect you to turn out to be the woman who initiated the stealing of the Death Star plans.”

“With your pathetic attempts at flirting, I certainly didn’t expect you to turn out to a rebel fighting for a cause bigger than yourself,” Jyn says bluntly. “You seemed too self-absorbed.”

The dark-haired woman snickers at her words, while the other three men smirk. Aston doesn’t seem bothered.

Aston points at the female rebel. “That’s Zara by the way. And those three are Ellis, Thanh, and Rayce,” he says as he gestures to the two dark-haired men with olive skin, followed by the blonde one. “We’re one of a few rebel teams heading to the labor camp. That facility we were helping them build? The rebels have discovered it’s to help develop superweapons and technologies for a new Death Star. We need to get to the camp to hack into its system and deactivate the deflector shield around it and the facility. Then the Alliance will send starships to destroy it all.”

Jyn drops her blaster to her side and looks down to the ground, overwhelmed by this information.

_This whole time, we’ve been helping to build something that’s replacing what we helped to destroy…_

_What about Cassian? If they’re destroying the camp, they might kill Cassian…_

“Will you be killing all of the prisoners along with the Imperials?” she asks them.

“We’ll try to save as many prisoners as we can...the Rebel Alliance supporters at least. A ship is set to come and take them once the battle breaks out,” Thanh replies.

“You mentioned Cassian Andor earlier. Do you intend to save him?”

A dark, serious look comes across Aston’s face as he straightens himself. “Since Cassian Andor has become an Imperial officer, he is a traitor to the Alliance. We have orders to kill him on sight.”

It feels as if Jyn’s heart stops. “But it’s not true!”

“When I first saw him at the camp in an Imperial uniform, I couldn’t believe it myself. But then I saw him murder rebel sympathizers at a nearby village with my own eyes! He no longer fights for the Alliance!” Aston exclaims, his temper rising.  

“He’s being blackmailed!”

“With what?”

“Avena Ludu wants revenge on Cassian. She’s been threatening to hurt me if he doesn’t follow her orders.”

“Threatening you? So he killed people to protect you?! Killing many to save one? Rayce, you knew him better. Does that sound like Cassian to you?”

Rayce shakes his head. “Cassian always made the cause his number one priority. He has no family and has fought for the cause since he was young. I didn’t know him to be one to have...attachments. It’s hard to believe he would become an Imperial...but it’s also hard to believe that he would kill other rebel supporters just to protect her.”

“Did you escape Scarif with him?” Aston asks.

“Yes.”

“Did he help you steal the Death Star plans?”

“Yes,” she answers emphatically.

“And yet you escaped on an Imperial ship? What happened to your ship?”

“I assume it was destroyed. We had no other choice but to get on an Imperial ship that was about to take off.”

“You assume?”

“I...can’t remember everything. I had a head injury...” she whispers.

“Well if you can’t remember everything, how can we trust what you’re telling us? Did Cassian tell you then how you survived? How he helped get the Death Star plans with you? He could’ve been lying! He could’ve went with you to Scarif to try to stop you once you got there, and now he’s just putting up a facade that he’s still one of the rebels,”

Jyn knows what Aston is saying is absolutely not true. She knows with every fiber of her being that Cassian has told her the truth. She knows the torment he has felt and the pain he’s gone through to protect her. It certainly wasn’t an act.

“He told me the truth!” Jyn exclaims.

“I know what I saw. We can’t trust him now.”

Jyn’s seething over their lack of belief. “Don’t kill him. Give him the chance to explain everything. Please.”

“I make no promises,” he replies seriously.

Jyn takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “Then I cannot help you with your mission.”

Realizing she can’t convince them and having nothing left to say, she runs off in the direction she’d been heading in before Aston appeared.

* * *

 

It’s all a ruse though for Aston and his team. Jyn decides to make them think she’s continuing to run away. Because there’s no way she’s leaving Cassian behind to die.

When she’s a fair distance away, she discreetly hides behind a tree and leans back against it, listening for their movements. Surely, they wouldn’t bother coming after her since she’s seemingly going in the other direction? Plus, they already have their own urgent mission to take care of.

She’ll need to find a way back to the camp itself. She still has no idea if the Imperials are after her now...but they must have discovered she’s missing by now. She’ll have to keep laying low.

Once she senses the group of rebels have continued their journey to the camp, Jyn steps out from behind the tree and starts heading back the way she came.

* * *

 

Once Avena dismissed Cassian, she didn’t send him back to the farming field. Instead, she sent him to patrol the labor camp.

Hours later, he’s being called back to see her and he feels sick. Does she know that Jyn’s escaped now? Has she found some other way to torture him? What will she make him do?

When he walks in, he finds her sitting at her desk, smiling deviously down at the datapad in her hands. Cassian assumed she would be livid when she discovered that Jyn was gone...so maybe she does not yet know? How could she not yet know? Was Jyn caught and that’s why Avena’s so pleased? A chill runs down Cassian’s spine.

Avena looks up at him from her seat. “I’ve heard your precious Jyn is missing,” she says nonchalantly as if it was nothing, making Cassian even more afraid of what she was about to do.

“At first, I nearly sent every single officer to go looking for her,” she says calmly. “I’m not sure you are aware Cassian, but every prisoner here, including you, has had a tracking device injected in them when they were brought here.”

Cassian feels as if he can’t breathe. _A tracking device?! How did we not know...how did we not consider..._

“Weeks ago, the tracking system had been down because that prisoner who ran away had hacked into the system before his escape. But luckily, our tracking system is fully functioning now. And I am happy to report that it looks like I won’t have to send anyone after Jyn after all because she’s already making her own way back here,” Avena reveals before stretching her arms out to show him her datapad.

Cassian’s face falls and he can’t hide the look of terror upon his face when he sees a pulsing, circular dot moving across a map of the area, going through the forest area and nearing the labor camp.  

“We’ll be ready and waiting for her, Andor. And then when we have her, you’ll pay for what you’ve tried and failed to do,” she finishes seriously as she glowers at him.  

_Jyn, what are you doing?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wellllp. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed the latest bit of craziness in this fic!
> 
> Anyway, it looks like there will only be more 2 more chapters to this fic! According to my outline at least :)


	14. Kill the Beast!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay!! So part of the problem in getting this posted was I kept changing my mind on how I wanted the events in this chapter to go down, and then I kept rereading it and editing it, and now I'm just at the point where I'm like "I just gotta post this already!!"
> 
> Also, just a warning - there's a lot of blaster shooting in this chapter! Definitely a more action-y chapter...I don't write much action, so here's hoping it came out okay :)

Rage courses through Cassian as he stares at Avena while she tucks the datapad monitoring Jyn’s movements in her arms, bringing it close to her chest. He’s sick of Avena hurting and using Jyn. He can’t take it anymore. With a few huffs of anger, he charges at Avena and places his hands around her neck as he shoves her up against the wall. The back of her head bangs against it, and she drops the datapad, which clatters on the ground.

This pain, this torture, and this guilt she has given him...it needs to end. He has to end it by ending her. Jyn’s away for now...he could do it…

He tightens his grasp around her neck as her hands reach up to try to pry him off of her. “Just a reminder...Andor...that if anything happens to me...when Jyn’s captured... she will be killed immediately,” she manages to get out in between her shallow breaths.

Cassian stares at her, with his outrage still boiling within him. He can’t do it. Not while Jyn is still on this planet. Not until he knows she’s safe. He can’t kill her. Not yet.

He releases his hands from Avena’s neck. She then rubs her now-red neck as she smiles smugly at him.

It just infuriates him even more.

Suddenly, a blaring alarm sounds all throughout the building, startling both of them.

A look of confusion and concern replaces Avena’s smug expression. Cassian doesn’t know what’s going on, but he’s glad to finally witness Avena not look so pleased with herself. At the sound of loud, thumping footsteps, they both look up to the entryway and see Imperial officers and stormtroopers rushing about. Rolfe bursts through the room with his datapad in front of him, heading straight for Avena.

“The deflector shield is down,” he informs her, out of breath. “Rebels,” he offers as an explanation.

_ The rebels? _

Avena’s eyes widen, and she bolts out of the room, with Rolfe trailing behind her.

Cassian doesn’t have time to ponder whether the Alliance know he’s here and why they’re here. Instead, he picks up Avena’s datapad off the ground, with the hopes of locating Jyn himself before anyone else.

* * *

 

Out of breath and exhausted, Jyn falls to her knees when she reaches the edge of the forest near the facility that the labor camp prisoners had been in charge of building. She does manage to let out a sigh of relief. She’s getting closer to Cassian, and she can only pray that she’ll get to him in time. All that remains between them now is the long stretch of open land from the facility to the labor camp itself. 

Well, that’s if he’s still there... What if Avena learned he helped her escape? What would she do to him? What if the Imperials caught wind of the rebels’ plan to attack? The rebels had been far ahead of her and took a different route through the forest...and then they mentioned other rebel teams were making their way to the camp...who knows if the attack plan is already in motion? She doesn't know what situation she’ll find once she arrives at the camp, making it difficult for her to figure out exactly how she's going to get Cassian out of there…

At the sound of the wind rushing over the tops of the tall trees behind her and the loud hum of ship engines, she looks up into the night sky to see three X-wing starships flying overhead.

Jyn immediately gets up off the ground, covers her ears as best as she can with her blaster in her grasp and bolts away from the facility as fast as she can. As she runs, she hears the booms of explosions behind her. With a brief glance back, she sees the facility engulfed in flames and crumbling to the ground. 

The sight pushes her to run even faster. So much so, she can feel the strain in her legs from the overexertion. She needs to get to Cassian…before it’s too late.

* * *

 

The labor camp erupts into complete chaos. 

Imperial officers, stormtroopers, prisoners, and rebels are everywhere. All of the camp’s cells have been opened, leaving the prisoners free to run about. The rebels are firing at the Imperials, who are in turn firing back at them. Some people are taking cover, some are falling to the ground after being hit by a blast, and some are dodging shots and trying to run away.

Cassian himself is having to duck and take cover as he makes his way through the building, with the goal of getting outside to find Jyn.

When he passes by a fallen stormtrooper on the ground, Cassian pauses in the corridor to bend down to take his blaster from him. With this battle raging, he certainly needs a weapon to defend himself.

He isn’t sure why the Alliance has chosen to attack, and why they’re here now...perhaps, he should have further investigated this camp. If he were a better rebel officer, he would have. But, somehow, at some point, he changed. Of course, he still supports the Alliance’s cause to bring down the Empire. But his top priority has become...Jyn.

Is the Alliance seeking to destroy the entire camp? If Jyn’s making her way back...is she even aware of what she’ll be walking into? He needs to find her...maybe then, they’d be able to leave this planet with the rebels. Tightening his grasp on the datapad, he continues to navigate through the camp with the intention of re-checking Jyn’s location as soon as he finds an area free of blaster fire.

* * *

 

When the labor camp is finally in sight, a winded Jyn finds the gate to the entrance of the camp has been blown up. No Imperials are patrolling the camp’s perimeters. As she looks out over the camp, she finds prisoners, Imperials, and rebels running around and shots being fired all around it. Each wing of the camp looks to be damaged from explosions.

At least the Alliance attack will keep the Imperials distracted and she doesn’t have to worry as much about being captured. But...how will she be able to find Cassian in this mess? And how will they escape this?

She hopes Cassian hasn’t already been killed. With her blaster in her hand, she runs up to the camp’s grounds and goes through the entrance.

...where she is immediately nearly hit by someone’s shot from their blaster, but she falls to the ground instantly so it goes over her head. On her hands and knees, she starts crawling over to the side of one wing of the building. When she reaches it, she stands up again and leans against the wall. She peeks around the corner to see what’s going on with the hopes of spotting Cassian.

No such luck.

Instead, she hears the rumble of a ship. She sneaks a look around the corner once more to see a large ship landing in front of the camp. As soon as it touches the ground, a multitude of prisoners run toward it, leading her to assume that must be the Alliance’s ship sent to pickup the rebel prisoners.

And once they’re out, then the Alliance will be nearly clear to blow up the entire camp…

She needs to find Cassian  _ now. _

She continues along the side of the building and turns around the corner, when suddenly someone grabs hold of the back of her shirt and yanks her back, causing her to stumble backwards into someone. “Got you,” a voice growls. Turning her head, she can see the white armor of a stormtrooper behind her. Before he can grab hold of her arm, she uses her elbow to jab him in the chest, causing him to stagger back. Then she swiftly turns around and shoots him. He falls to the ground.

Looking around, she doesn’t find anyone else nearby paying attention to her and keeps walking. When she gets to an open entryway in the side of the building, she peeks inside. There’s a shockingly empty corridor, which amplifies Jyn’s fear that the rebels are starting to make their way out to blow up the camp. To the left, she finds a staircase.

Jyn quickly races up the steps to the get to the roof, which is only one story off the ground. When she looks over the railing, she searches through the chaos below. She sees the prisoners trying to quickly load up into the ship while being fired at by the Imperials. The rebels are attempting to keep them preoccupied by firing at them in return from other directions.

Scanning the lit area below her, she is unable to spot Cassian. Could he still be inside the building somewhere?

The sound of a ship engine temporarily drowns out the building alarm and the blaster fire around her, and she looks to the side of the building to see an Imperial ship leaving the nearby flight hangar.

Were the Imperials abandoning the planet? Perhaps, Cassian was in the hangar...Or maybe he’d already taken off…

As soon as she has this thought, Jyn runs back down the stairs. She exits the building, and cautiously walks alongside the wall again. When she reaches the corner, she scans the area, making sure she can safely find a way to the hangar.

Deeming it safe enough to dash towards it, she’s about to step forward when she’s suddenly tackled to the ground from behind, and her blaster falls out of her hand. A person’s body weight crushes her, preventing her from being able to move.

The weight upon her shifts, and her assailant pins her hands to her back. Then she feels restraints being placed around her arms. She attempts to wriggle free, but her attacker is too strong. She tilts her head to look behind her and finds the familiar face of Rolfe, sending her heart racing out of terror.

Rolfe gets up off her body and points his blaster at her. “Get up,” he orders her.

Jyn does as he says, getting on her knees first, then slowly standing up. Rolfe keeps his blaster directed at her. “We’re going to the hangar,” he informs her. “Officer Ludu isn’t leaving this planet without you.”

_ And hopefully, not without Cassian either… _

Rolfe’s words give her a glimmer of hope that Cassian’s still here. With someone as vindictive as Avena, it doesn’t seem likely that she’d send him off somewhere without her.

There’s still a chance that she and Cassian could find a way to get out of this...together.

* * *

 

“TRAITOR!” a voice yells when Cassian steps outside the building. An intense shot comes toward him, burning the skin of his upper arm as Cassian drops to the ground. The startling shot causes him to lose his grip on the datapad, and it falls to the ground. 

Pain shoots through his arm, and he figures it must be bleeding, but he ignores it. When he looks up, he sees a rebel with a vaguely familiar face standing near him, realizing he’s the prisoner who had escaped weeks ago. It didn’t dawn on him before then that he had seen him around the rebel base before...he doesn’t think they’ve ever spoken to each other.

“It’s not what you think!” Cassian yells back while he gets on his hands and knees.

“How could you become an Imperial officer and kill innocent villagers?” Aston questions him angrily with his blaster aimed at him.

“I am not an Imperial. I’m still on the Alliance’s side!” Cassian exclaims, trying to be heard over everything happening around them. Cassian puts down his blaster and stands up, holding up his arms to show they’re empty and that he’s not going to shoot him.  

“LIAR!” Aston shouts.

Cassian takes a deep breath. “This is just to protect Jyn...Jyn Erso, the one who transmitted the Death Star plans to the Alliance. Kill me if you want, but please...find her, take her back to base with you...get her out of here,” he pleads. “She’s got dark-”

Cassian’s words are interrupted by the loud shot of a blaster going through the back of Aston, sending him to the ground and killing him.

Cassian instantly looks to see where the shot came from, preparing to run for cover...but his body freezes and he can’t breathe when he sees Rolfe putting his blaster down at his side...and Jyn standing beside him with her hands handcuffed behind her body. “Avena will decide when you die, and it will be by her hand,” he says darkly.

Rolfe then grabs hold of the back of Jyn’s neck and forces her to move forward toward Cassian.  

The sight of Jyn in the hands of an Imperial once more enrages Cassian, let alone Avena’s main lackey. Cassian refuses to let her be captured and tortured again. He will  _ not  _ allow it.

Hurriedly, he bends down, ignores the pain in his arm as he picks up his blaster, takes aim, and fires it straight into Rolfe’s chest before Rolfe even has a chance to react. Jyn stumbles as Rolfe’s hold on her nearly causes her to tumble to the ground with him, but she manages to keep her balance. Without even thinking about what he’d just done, Cassian rushes toward her.  

“Jyn,” he says softly as he approaches, with a slight smile at seeing her again. But then that smile fades into an expression of distress. “You came back...why did you come back? You were supposed to run.”

“Of course I came back. It was foolish of me to leave,” she says quietly, looking relieved and elated to see him. “I am not leaving this planet without you,” she then adds boldly. Out of joy of seeing her, Cassian gets lost in her green eyes and forgets where they are for a moment. He nearly goes to caress the sides of her face. He wants to embrace her, kiss her...but then he hears the sound of an explosion, bringing him back to reality. He shakes his head as he remembers her hands are bound behind her. He promptly kneels down beside Rolfe’s dead body, feeling through his pockets for the small remote to Jyn’s cuffs to unlock them.

Jyn bends down beside him, and her tone transitions into a serious, anxious one. “We need to get out of here. Now. While they’re preoccupied with the Alliance’s attack.”

“Maybe we could go with the Alliance - ” Cassian begins to say as he finally finds the remote in Rolfe’s breast pocket.

“No,” Jyn cuts him off. “The Alliance knows you killed rebel sympathizers. They think you’re an Imperial.”

How does Jyn know this?

“How -” he starts, but is cut off by her again.

“No time to explain. Rolfe said we were going to head to the hangar because Avena wasn’t going to leave without me...what if we tried taking one of the Imperial’s ships here?”

Cassian shrugs.“It’s worth a try.”

He’s about to push the buttons on the remote to unlock her binders, but Jyn stops him. “Wait...we should make it look like I’m a prisoner that you’re escorting to the ship.”

Cassian thinks for a moment about what she’s telling him, then quickly agrees to it with a nod. He shoves the remote in his pocket and winces while shifting his arm before getting up and grabbing Jyn’s upper arms to help her up. Together, they run to the hangar as they hear the sounds of detonations behind them.

When they reach the hangar’s entrance, they’re out of breath but don’t stop moving. Cassian gently pushes Jyn so her body is in front of him, and he places his blaster up against her back to make it seem like he’s threatening to shoot her if she doesn’t go where he wants her to go.

As they step in the hangar, Imperials are running around in various directions, some taking off in ships, some retrieving supplies to stock up the ships. One officer nearby is barking orders at everyone.

“Maybe that one,” Cassian whispers to Jyn as he points to a small ship nearby, and she nods, both of them hoping that this last-second plan somehow works out in their favor. He starts to guide Jyn toward it, but they instantly halt when they hear a shout. “Andor!”

The Imperial officer that they had seen giving orders hastens over to them and looks Jyn up and down. “I see you’ve found her. Officer Ludu has ordered for you both to depart with her. The ship is over there,” he remarks as he points to a black ship near them. When he turns his face back to Cassian’s, his eyes widen. “You’ll need to patch up that wound as soon as you’re on the ship, Andor,” he remarks of the blood that has now soaked through Cassian’s sleeve. The officer starts walking toward the ship and gestures for them to follow him.

Cassian’s body tenses, unsure if they can get out of this if Avena is already on the ship. Jyn’s body stills as well, as he can only assume she doesn’t know how they can continue with their plan.

“We’ll figure something out,” Jyn murmurs so softly Cassian nearly doesn’t hear it. She begins to walk toward the officer, and Cassian follows her lead, keeping his blaster against her back. His heart races over the possibility of encountering Avena...would she somehow know he killed Rolfe? What would she do to retaliate?

Cassian wasn’t going to let her take or hurt Jyn again, of that he was certain. Whatever it would take, he would ensure Jyn remains free.

“Officer Ludu should be here soon,” the officer informs them when they arrive at the small ship’s ramp, and he quickly walks off.

His words give him a moment of relief...she wasn’t here yet...

Jyn hustles up the ship’s ramp and Cassian does the same. “Let’s just take this ship before she gets here,” Jyn states as she heads to the pilot’s seat.

Cassian agrees, attaching his blaster to the belt at his waist and removing the remote from his pocket as he follows her. Pushing some buttons, Jyn’s binders click open. He then slides them off of her hands. Somehow, an electric sensation still runs through him when his fingertips brush against her palms, despite the stressful situation.

It’s as if she feels it too from the way she promptly turns her head back towards him when it happens. But when she looks at him, her eyes widen out of concern. “Cassian, your arm! Find the medpac. I’ll start this ship up.”

Jyn takes the pilot’s seat and starts punching various buttons and flipping a few switches to bring the ship roaring to life and ready for takeoff. She plugs in a trajectory to a nearby, random planet so they can get away from this one as soon as possible while Cassian searches through the compartments on the ship’s wall for the first aid kit.

At the moment he finally finds it, Jyn pushes the button to close the ramp to the ship.

But as the ramp retracts, he hears a loud thump. The ramp starts to whine, indicating some kind of obstruction that’s preventing it from closing. Cassian looks to the ramp and is paralyzed with terror when he finds Avena standing there.

“Not so fast,” Avena says as she lifts up her blaster, aiming it at Jyn. Cassian lets the medpac tumble out of his hands as he scrambles to stand behind Jyn right at the moment Avena fires.

The shot goes straight through Cassian’s back, and he collapses on the floor of the ship.

Then everything goes black.

* * *

“NO!” Jyn cries out as the ship begins to lift up off the ground. Peering back at Avena, she observes Avena stumbling a bit from the takeoff. Jyn then yanks down on one of the controls to force the ship to jerkily accelerate its ascent. Its unsteady movement brings Avena to her knees and causes her blaster to fall and rattle as it slides down the ramp and out of the ship. Avena, filled with intense fear, grips onto a part of the ramp to prevent herself from sliding down with it.

Jyn holds back her tears as she forcefully pushes the button to put the ship into autopilot. Getting up out of her seat, she bends down beside Cassian to quickly pick up his blaster that’s attached at his belt. She ignores the blood pooling beside him that’s now soaking through her pants and covering her hands. The sight of Cassian unconscious enrages her, and she shakily stands up, filled with fury and looks down at Avena attempting to climb up the ramp, but her grip keeps slipping.

Avena panics when she sees the weapon in Jyn’s hand, and her voice trembles out of fear when she speaks. “Please, don't hurt me! I'll do anything! Anything!” she pleads.

“This whole time you’ve tried to make him out to be the monster,” Jyn says in a quiet, grim tone. But he’s not the monster. You are!” Jyn exclaims furiously at her before shooting her.

Avena cries out in agony. The impact of the shot makes her lose her grip, and her body slides down and off the ramp, sending her body to fall into the chaos and explosions of the labor camp below.

With no hindrance, the ship’s ramp is finally able to close. Jyn runs back to Cassian, carelessly tossing the blaster to the side. She finally lets the many tears escape her eyes when she crawls over to the medpac near him. Pulling out all the bacta patches in it, she makes her way back to Cassian and starts ripping off his uniform to apply them to his wounds. The tears blur her vision as she does so. Instead of wiping them away with her hands, she simply allows them to fall all over Cassian’s skin.

“Please...please...please don't leave me!” she begs as a sob escapes her. “You’re all  _ I  _ have.”

“Please let these be enough for now,” she prays while she finishes applying all the bacta patches to his back and to his arm. His breathing gradually slows down and nearly appears nonexistent. She starts to run her fingers through his hair, seeking comfort in touching him. “Why would you do that?!” she shouts, frustrated with him for sacrificing himself so she wouldn’t be shot.

Another sob leaves her as she lays beside him and leans her head against his bare shoulder blade. “I love you,” she whispers as her body trembles from her cries.  

But Cassian doesn’t move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAD TIMES. :( 
> 
> Just a note: Because Cassian got to kill Krennic in Rogue One (when I wished Jyn was the one to do it), I decided to give Jyn the killing of Avena in this to make up for it. Those two just look out for each other! :) 
> 
> (On another note, did everyone enjoy The Last Jedi trailer?! I'm also blaming that for the delay of this chapter...I've obsessively watched it multiple times since it dropped and watched many theory videos about it, haha.)


	15. Beauty and the Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a rough two weeks since I last posted...so I apologize for the delay! Plus, I obsessively had to keep editing this chapter since it's the FINAL CHAPTER! Be ready for the sappy note at the end :)

As Jyn sits in a chair at Cassian’s bedside, she realizes it’s been nearly a week since she’s last gotten through a day without any tears streaming down her face.

Staring at Cassian’s unconscious body upon a bed, she can’t help but feel the tears well up in her eyes once more. He’s still breathing, but he hasn’t woken up since being shot by Avena.

That day, after Jyn had applied the bacta patches from the ship’s medpac to his wounds, she flew them to the city of Andui on the neutral planet of Takodana. It was a city she knew from her days before she was arrested and taken to Wobani, when she went by the name of Liana Hallik. When living the life as a petty criminal, she stayed on Takodana for about a year. During that time, she had a bad run-in with a smuggler, who stabbed her in her side. She had then gone to the city’s run-down medcenter where a nurse named Iza helped heal her for a low price. She had hoped Iza would still be here, and fortunately for them, she was.

But when they’d arrived at the medcenter and Iza looked Cassian over, she revealed that he probably needed a bacta tank, which they didn’t have.

“We don’t have much bacta either,” she had said. “I can prepare a bath for him and use the bit of bacta liquid we have. But he needs more. Perhaps at the castle, you could trade for some?” Iza had suggested.

She had been referring to the castle on the planet that was run by Maz Kanata, a haven for criminals and various travelers. Right after she mentioned it, Jyn left Cassian in Iza’s care and flew to  Nymeve Lak e, where she spoke with multiple pirates. After selling the majority of the parts of the Imperial ship her and Cassian arrived on, she had the credits to purchase more bacta liquid from another pirate and a landspeeder from another to get back to Andui...to Cassian.  

When she had gotten back, Iza told her there was still a chance he could be saved, and Jyn’s been holding onto that hope. Iza let him soak in a bacta-infused bath for a few days, then she moved him to this bed earlier that morning.

“Wake up,” Jyn pleads softly, while holding onto her kyber crystal necklace.

Cassian doesn’t move. All she sees is the steady rise and fall of his chest.

The pain of seeing him like this brings to her mind an image…one where she sees Cassian’s body lying seemingly lifeless upon some kind of platform below her. But Jyn can’t place where the image is from, or where it took place...it’s still a bit indistinct for her.

Grabbing hold of his hand, she longs to feel his warmth. Instead, there’s a slight chill to them, and holding it doesn’t bring her the comfort she seeks, since his hand doesn’t enclose around hers like she’s used to.

Jyn can’t help but recall the moments after Cassian was shot and she applied the bacta patches...she’d returned to the pilot’s chair to change the ship’s course to Takodana. And as she did so, it had felt like she was reliving a similar, severe pain in her heart over losing someone...a feeling she’s felt before. But the only visual that came to mind was of a downpour and multiple small fires on some kind of landing platform.

Exhausted, she leans forward in her seat to lay her head beside their hands on the bed. She doesn’t let go of his hand. Instead she tightens her grasp on it and rubs circles on his skin with her thumb.

Somewhat at peace from the contact, she gradually falls asleep.

* * *

 

Suddenly, Cassian feels a rush of pain go through his back and his arms. Letting out a muffled grunt of discomfort, he opens his eyes to find himself in a dimly-lit, bare room he’s never seen before.

This experience is familiar to him, as he recalls waking up in pain after the Battle of Scarif in the medcenter of Avena’s labor camp.

The labor camp couldn't have all been just a dream…

Could it?

_ Where’s Jyn? _

He nearly moves to prop himself up in a panic, but then realizes something’s tightly wrapped around his hand. He looks down at it only to find Jyn with her hand around his and her head facedown on the bed. After letting out a sigh of relief, he smiles brightly.  

He’s about to squeeze her hand in return, but he pauses when he notices how deep and peaceful of a sleep she’s in. So much of their lives has consisted of being constantly on the move and dealing with distressing situations. It’s a rare sight to see her like this...and refreshing, too.

Thinking back to what he last remembers happening...he recalls standing in front of Jyn to protect her from Avena’s incoming shot.

_ Avena! _

Where was she? What happened to her? At least he can see she didn’t injure Jyn...but where are they now? Are they still on the run from her? How did he even survive?

Jyn shifts her head to the side so she’s now facing him, and Cassian gently squeezes her hand. At the movement, Jyn blinks her eyes open, and upon seeing Cassian staring at her, she abruptly stands up. Her face is beaming, and tears glisten in her eyes.

“Cassian,” she breathes as she tightens her grip on Cassian’s hand.

“Jyn,” he whispers as he brings his other hand across his body to place it against Jyn’s face, then strokes her cheek with his thumb. He chooses to ignore the ache in his arms as he does so. “Are you all right?”

“I should be asking you that,” she says with a slight chuckle of disbelief. “I’m fine,” she answers. “How are you feeling?”

“Relieved and elated to see you,” he replies genuinely as he locks eyes with her, still finding it hard to believe that she’s here right beside him. “What happened? Where’s Avena?”

“She’s dead,” she says as she gives his hand a squeeze.

_ Dead? Could it really be? Is this all just a dream? _

“Dead?” he questions aloud, shocked. “How?”

“After she...shot you,” Jyn tearfully states as if the memory of it torments her. “She started to fall down the ramp when I was bringing the ship up. And then I shot her,” Jyn finishes in a stern voice, not feeling guilty at all for what she had done.

“You’re free of her,” she adds in a whisper.

It had felt like he was trapped under Avena’s command for an eternity...to finally be free of it...and because of Jyn…Cassian can hardly believe it. That heavy burden...is gone.

He releases his one hand from her grip to place it against her other cheek. With both hands on the sides of her face, he brings her closer to him and he sees the slight blush creep across her cheeks when he does so. Her breathing quickens, and the breaths tickle his face. It ends up feeling like she’s leaning towards him without him having to pull her closer…

“Jyn, I…” he begins to say ever so softly, but then she runs one of her hands across his forehead to sweep back his hair and the gentle touch renders him speechless.

Her close proximity suddenly makes him nervous, and he slowly lets his hands fall from her face to the bed.

_ I don’t deserve her… _

He suddenly averts his eyes from hers. Looking down at the bed, he remembers one of his initial wonderings upon waking up…

“Where are we?” he asks.

“In a medcenter on Takodana in Andui. After you were shot, I only had the bacta patches from the medpac,” she replies. “I used to live here in Andui temporarily. I’m not sure if I ever told you that.”

“You didn’t,” he answers softly, and he finally notices that his chest and one of his arms are wrapped in bandages.

“I knew it had this medcenter...and since it’s a neutral area, it seemed to be the best place to take you,” she explains. “Considering there’s a slight chance the Imperials or the Alliance could be trying to hunt us down...unless they think we died.”

The mention of the rebels triggers the memory of her telling him that the rebels knew he killed rebel sympathizers after he shot Rolfe.

“How do you know the Alliance wants to kill me? What happened after you went into the woods?” he asks as he looks back at her.

Without his hand in her grasp, she looks down and begins to absentmindedly trace circles on the bed. “When I went with the stormtrooper in the woods, one of those beasts attacked the stormtrooper, but I managed to shoot it before it could hurt me. I kept going through the woods, regretting that I had left you…” she trails off and lifts her eyes to meet his. “Then I ran into Aston, that prisoner who escaped, and his team of rebels. The Alliance was going to destroy the camp and the facility we had been building because the Imperials were planning to use it to develop superweapons for a new Death Star.”

_ Another Death Star?  _ Cassian nearly shudders.

“Aston said he saw you kill rebel sympathizers in a village and then of course he had seen you in the Imperial uniform while he was a prisoner. The Alliance had ordered the rebels to kill you if they saw you. And so...I had to go back. We had to get out of there together.”

He wants to reprimand her for coming back for him. She could’ve died. She could’ve been captured and tortured again. In fact, she was momentarily captured again...but he can’t bring himself to scold her, since he’s also touched that she did return for him.

“And we’ll probably need to go somewhere else soon,” she continues. “We should probably lie low from the Imperials and the Alliance for a while...considering they both want to kill you. That is, if you want to,” she finishes awkwardly.

_ We”...she keeps saying “we”... _

To be with her is of course what he wants.  _ But does she want the same? _

“Is that what you want? To go somewhere together?” he asks aloud.

“I’ve already abandoned you once. I don’t want to abandon you ever again,” she remarks immediately, sending Cassian’s heart racing and giving him the courage to hold her hand again. This time, they interlock their fingers.

“Where did you have in mind?” Cassian asks curiously.

“Lah’mu,” she says softly. “It’s the only place I’ve ever considered home,” she offers as an explanation.

Cassian may have never been there, nor know much about Lah’mu, but if Jyn calls it home...then of course they would need to go there.

“That sounds perfect.”

* * *

Two days later, with the remaining credits she had received from selling the Imperial ship, Jyn finds someone at Maz Kanata’s castle willing to take her and Cassian to Lah’mu. Cassian hasn’t fully healed, but with some herbs from Iza and additional bacta purchased from one of the many visitors to Maz’s castle, Jyn’s confident that he will be able to recover.

When he had woken up, she had felt...blissfully happy. And there had only been a handful of moments in her life where she had felt that overjoyed.

She nearly blurted out she loved him the moment she saw he was awake, and then she’d almost kissed him when her face was in his hands. His touch had been so comforting and safe and yet...he pulled away and seemed uneasy.

Why did he pull away?

But then when she told him that she never wanted to leave him...his demeanor changed. He was more relaxed and seemed happier. He appeared thrilled to go to Lah’mu with her.

With all they’ve done for each other and all they’ve said to each other...he couldn’t possibly think she views him as just a “comrade,” could he?

She’d need to make her feelings clear....when the right moment comes along.

Right now, he’s leaning against her with his arm draped around her shoulder for support as they descend the ramp of the ship onto one of the black sand beaches of Lah’mu. They slowly trudge through the sand since Cassian is unable to walk quickly with his injuries. They’re only a few steps away from the ship when the man who had provided them their transportation to the planet already begins taking off.

As they make their way across the beach, she inhales deeply and closes her eyes for just a moment. The scent of the saline sea immediately takes Jyn back to when she was a child, running around along the shore with her mother and father trying to catch her.

Cassian then begins to pull away from her, removing his arm from Jyn’s shoulders, and the movement jolts Jyn out of her reverie. Panicked, she tries to return to Cassian’s side as he stumbles a bit, but he holds his hand out to stop her. “I’ll sit over there,” he says as he points to some boulders that are near the cliff wall on the beach. “Take a moment,” he tells her. “Reminisce.”

With a warm smile, she turns to face the sea and watches as the waves roll up the shore, and she steps leisurely towards the water as she grasps her kyber necklace tightly.

“Welcome home,” Cassian calls out to her from his seat upon the boulder.

She takes another step.

 

_ Welcome home.  _

 

She closes her eyes. 

 

_ Welcome home.  _

 

Her body stills. 

 

_ Welcome home.  _

 

A vivid image of Cassian wearing a cream shirt with a brown jacket looking at her surfaces in her mind. Around them, people are running about in a flight hangar. 

The hangar on...Yavin 4.

And Cassian’s deep brown eyes pierce through her as he says “Welcome home.”

Her body freezes at what she realizes is a memory. And like the waves on the shore before her, a slew of memories start crashing and flooding through her mind: being extracted from Wobani, meeting with the rebel leaders, going to and then fleeing Jedha, leaving Saw behind, flying to Eadu, seeing her father for the last time, failing to convince the rebel leaders to steal the Death Star plans, going to Scarif anyway and stealing the plans...all the while with Cassian by her side…

And then flashes of the events of the weeks after the battle on Scarif play through her mind: Cassian’s constant presence, his efforts to know her and save her, him using a part of his shirt to wrap her arm after a blaster shot, him shooting down the beasts that nearly attacked her, him letting her try to escape the camp without him…

The recollection of the occasion when she asked him what exactly they were sticks out to her...

How could he possibly call them just “comrades” after he killed Krennic to protect her and after their closeness in the elevator on Scarif...a moment that he never mentioned to her when she had amnesia...

Cassian did everything for her. He’d sacrificed so much for her…and even with her amnesia, he never abandoned her like nearly everyone else in her life...

She abruptly opens her eyes and stumbles back, overwhelmed with everything she’s remembered. She almost falls into the sand, but manages to catch herself.

“Are you all right?” she hears Cassian yell out to her above the rush of the waves in a concerned voice.

She feels a bit annoyed with him.  _ Why did he allow himself to be tortured in order to protect me? Why did he call us only comrades? _

Frustrated, she turns around and stalks toward him. He looks concerned, but upon seeing her angrily approach, that expression changes to one of worry. Part of her wants to shove him off the rock for being so foolish, but obviously she doesn’t want to risk harming him even more as he recovers from his injuries.

Instead, when she reaches him, she boldly places her hands against the sides of his face. “Comrades? You considered us comrades?” she asks him, and Cassian appears confused by her questions. “Because when we were in that elevator on Scarif together, I thought there was something…”

Cassian stares at her, and his breathing halts out of shock when she mentions the elevator. “Jyn...do you...do you remember?” he manages to get out.

Tears begin to well up in her eyes as she eagerly nods, her anger quickly fading away, but Cassian is still frozen in disbelief.

“You remember everything?” he asks.

“Yes,” she whispers, and Cassian’s face breaks into a wide grin as he puts his hands at the sides of her waist. “And how could you have been so foolish as to go through with Avena’s demands?” she questions him as she stares directly at him, tears escaping her eyes.

“I wanted to protect you,” he answers softly and honestly.

His devotion to her...it astounds her and bewilders her. She can’t resist him any longer, and she doesn’t want to waste any more time. With her hands still on his cheeks, she leans down and places her lips against his in a slow, deep kiss. At first Cassian is frozen and doesn’t seem to be responding to it, but his lack of response lasts only for a few seconds as he finally starts to return the kiss.

But then he abruptly pulls away from her and brings his hands back to his sides, leaving her perplexed. Briefly, all they hear are the sounds of their rapid breaths and the rolling waves before Cassian finally speaks. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Cassian,” she replies gently as she sits on the boulder beside him. “You’ve done so much to protect me. When I couldn’t remember who you were, you could’ve easily walked away. And even before then, you believed me and joined me in stealing the Death Star plans. After you were knocked unconscious at the Scarif databank, you managed to climb up and kill Krennic before he could kill me. No one in my life has ever stuck around like you. You are  _ not  _ a monster.”

As he stares at her and absorbs her words, she grabs hold of his hands and rests them in her lap. “Cassian...I love you,” she says breathlessly. “I’m sorry you had to deal with me not remembering you and that it took me so long to finally listen to you. And I shouldn’t have attempted to escape the camp without you. You’ve never abandoned me, and yet...I abandoned you.” More tears begin to fall down her face. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have - ”

Jyn’s words are interrupted by Cassian’s lips crashing against hers for a passionate kiss. “I love you, too,” he states softly when he pulls back. Bringing his hand to her cheek once more, he wipes away some of her tears with his thumb. “You didn’t abandon me. You saved me.”

Jyn tugs on the lapels of his jacket to bring him closer to her to kiss him again. He runs his fingers through her hair while she rubs her hands along his shoulders and neck, never letting their lips part from each other’s.

* * *

 

Later, they’re still out on the beach, now sitting in the black sand and leaning back against the cliff wall as they look out across the water at the vastness of the sky.

Jyn nestles against Cassian’s side as his arm rests against her back and his fingers casually play with her hair.

“Do you think you’ll want to join the Alliance again? Prove to them your innocence?” she wonders.

Cassian takes a deep breath. “Maybe one day,” he answers honestly. “And that’s only if you want to join the fight too...because I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Jyn smiles as she hugs Cassian a little tighter. “I don’t think either of us will be able stand not being a part of the fight for long.”

Cassian nods in agreement before planting a kiss on top of her head as they both watch the sun begin its descent.

 

_ Certain as the sun _

_ Rising in the east _

_ Tale as old as time _

_ Song as old as rhyme _

_ Beauty and the Beast _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh, I can't believe this story is over!
> 
> First, a few notes about this chapter: I learned from Wookiepedia that Jyn did in fact live for a bit on Takodana! It's mentioned in the book "Rebel Rising," I think. But I created my own little Takodana past for her :) 
> 
> I did for like a split-second consider having Jyn never getting her memories back and then I was like NAHHH, can't do that! And I've had it planned that Cassian saying "Welcome Home" would be the trigger for a while, so I ended up thinking of Jyn/Cassian whenever "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" by Taylor Swift and Zayn came on the radio because of the "Until you come back home" part lol. It became the unofficial theme song, haha! (Besides "Beauty and the Beast"...which I definitely had playing as I edited this chapter and then I felt compelled to add that last bit of the song in the chapter just like the movie :D) 
> 
> So anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL WHO HAVE READ THIS FIC! And for all the comments and kudos! I had the first 5 or 6 chapters written before I started posting this online. I was originally hoping to write the whole thing first and then post, but after those first few chapters, I kinda got stuck and wasn't as motivated to write. But then one day, I convinced myself to just start posting it and then I could get motivation and inspiration from people if they decided to read it! So THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! You have all motivated me and inspired me! And it's been so much fun writing this fic to parallel Beauty and the Beast - I hope you've enjoyed it as well! (Part of me is now like "What other Disney films can I parallel to do another fic??" haha)
> 
> Anyway, if you've read this entire fic, I would love it if you commented so that way I can thank you personally!!
> 
> Love you all! <3


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